Arena Dinner Theatre came into existence as a result of budget cuts in the Fort Wayne Parks Department. Formerly known as Fort Wayne Theatre Workshop, it was the only theatre in the city at that time to perform regularly in the round at the old Jefferson Center on the southwest corner of Jefferson and Fairfield, now home to the downtown McDonald’s. Funding for Theatre Workshop was eliminated, and the theatre’s future looked bleak.

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Not willing to abandon the unique concept of the theatre, which had been in operation since 1962, Board members sought a new location and funding to continue operating as a separate not-for-profit entity. They approached the director of the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce about the prospect of opening a dinner theatre in the Anthony Wayne Ballroom of the Chamber building on Wayne and Ewing streets, and a relationship was forged that would last ten years. Arena was, and continues to be, the area's only full-time dinner theatre. Shows were performed in the round on a stage with a set and lights that had to be assembled and struck every weekend. After a change in direction and policy at the Chamber of Commerce, Arena was once again forced to seek a new home.

 

For the next ten years, we became known as a theatre on the move, having performed in no less than eight locations, including The Roadway Inn, Sunset Catering, Waynedale Conservation Club, Downtown Holiday Inn, Scottish Rite Shrine, The Crosier House, Allen County Fairgrounds and the Fort Wayne Senior-Community Center before finally finding a permanent home on Rockhill in the historic West Central Neighborhood. Thanks to grants from many supportive arts foundations, philanthropic organizations, and private citizens, along with the determination and elbow grease of many volunteers, Arena was able to purchase and renovate the deteriorated Fort Wayne Art School Little Theatre, designed by the architect firm of Wing & Mahurin and built in the 1920s. The theatre had been empty since the Fort Wayne Art School had become IPFW’s Fine Arts program, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art had been established in their current building on Main and Lafayette.

 

Rich in history, the building was initially a recital hall where luminaries such as Albert Schweitzer, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sir John Gielgud, Carl Sandburg, Martha Graham, and Basil Rathbone once graced the stage located just half a block from Carole Lombard’s childhood home. The transformation of the building into an intimate dinner theatre was astounding. Arena has been in the West Central Neighborhood since 1995, and we don’t plan on moving again!

 

The transformation of the building into an intimate yet elegant dinner theatre space with a dining capacity of approximately 100. We have been here since 1995 and don’t plan on moving again! We perform six to eight shows a year. We provide acting, directing, management, and production opportunities for actors, technicians, and various regional theatre people (both professional and amateur)