The Cafe Theatre

The Cafe Theatre will be a 50 seat, cafe style dinner/dessert theatre with a movable stage near or in Baltimore, Maryland. The box office/theatre shop will sell tickets and show/Cafe Theatre merch. The small audience size creates an intimate experience, saves on rent/mortgage, and sidesteps a lot of requirements that larger venues have to deal with. Projected gross income for one year: $425,000. The ultimate goal is to replicate this prototype many times over once it is established.

Party packages are the meat and potatoes of the operation. All productions are either in the public domain or written in-house, so NO ROYALTIES! Our interactive Hitman Mysteries (Hitman Jr. for Kids) and Rock n' Roll Fairytales for kids keep the party going for all sorts of occasions all week long. The demographics are broad. We do appeal to all ages and types with our varied products. The love of theatre that results creates new patrons and actors of all ages. Main Stage and Hitman Mysteries are served up with dinner and open to the public. I have recently partnered with Alex Zavistovich of the National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre Company, and will be sharing this project with him. His company is sponsored by Raven Beer amongst others, and he has an extensive theatre background.  The food served is all catered, eliminating the need for a full kitchen and staff. The pricing is kept reasonably affordable. It is a challenge to compete with the pandemic national habit of ordering take-out and eating in front of the tube. The Cafe Theatre offers in-person excitement at a reasonable cost that includes dinner with no parking fees (I require a parking lot when scouting locations). It is also BYOB, which is a big money saver.

A manager would be the only full time employee, responsible for daily operations, sales, scheduling, hiring, ordering food, local PR and marketing (much of which, for theatres, is free listings in online sites and social media), directing, and acting (if needed or desired).The theatre would employ four additional actors on a part-time but steady basis as well (college students, retirees?) who also work as servers and bus people, and more actors as needed, creating many job openings where none existed. 

I realize that this is a pitch, not a plan, and I hope I have not said too much or too little. My belief in and commitment to The Cafe Theatre is absolute. It has a 30+ year history of creating joy for patrons and employees alike in New Jersey, and I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue that tradition in a new territory. If you would like to share that joy, as well as some of the profits, let’s talk!