This is one of our mainstays. We do 6 or 8 readers theater productions a year that way. We are a 501(c)(3) but see it as a way to bring extra income into our group. We do a lot training and this year we have been able to give out financial aid to our training programs to people who could not attend otherwise. We dedicate part of our income from certain productions to our scholarship fund.

I think helping our local restaurants during the slow season is good and it helps us in several ways:

First, we use our Readers Theater programs to try to bring new actors into our group. We have provided many, many actors with their first chance.

Secondly, historically, we used to get better audiences at the restaurants than we did in conference rooms (where we started) - without the draw of dinner, we probably would not have broken even on our early productions. We now have established our credibility and get good audiences at non restaurant locations.

I am not sure the restaurants make that much money on a dinner theater. We expect them to provide low cost alternative menu selections, allow people to come for the show only and they only get one seating for the night not the two or three they might get on a regular night.

Initially we did three performances of each Readers Theater production 1 or 2 at restaurants and 1 or 2 at conference rooms. We now do four performances - we have a waiting list of restaurants wanting us to do performances there.

I think the ethical issue is what you use the money for. We do not pay anyone associated with our productions so whatever money we make goes into our future projects - we still charge $5 for a ticket - helped by what we make at the restaurants.