“The Revolutionists:” Dinner Theater to Lose Your Head Over

The small-town civic theater is an enduring symbol; the unassuming downtown performance company – founded long ago by beloved local dandies – that secretly fuels the community’s daily life. The butcher, baker, and candlestick maker (the professional class, that is) have always been the gray-flannel measure of community progress. The town playhouse, though – dowdy little box of thespian magic under whose proscenium generations of our friends and neighbors stun us into quiet epiphany – this is the animating life force of the village. You exit the theater under watchful starlight, your inner life recharged. The art flame that vitalizes human culture rarely burns with more charming, earnest ferocity than in a town’s civic theater. 

“Lompoc is often overlooked as a center of theatrical events in the Santa Ynez Valley,” says Emma Recher, Lompoc Civic Theater (LCT) Association board member and avid spokesperson. “The fact is, we’re a dynamic community fighting to revive our historic cinema and to provide amazing cultural opportunities for our residents.” 

And that they are doing. Founded in 1972 by local devotees and thespians Walter Dundon, Kay La Rue, Al Thompson, and Marian Stave – and temporarily indisposed by a global pandemic whose name shall go unmentioned here – LCT has roared back into the follow spot with a stunning dinner theater production of Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists. Under Michelle Pittenger’s direction, the play is a wild, idea-spurring ride set in the France of 1793 – the year the Revolution’s head-removal enthusiasms started to get out of hand. Four women of the period, genuine historical figures, navigate the madness with scathing wit and wisdom. Ticket price for this evening of immersive dinner theater includes a French-inspired meal to be enjoyed before the performance. 

Playwright Lauren Gunderson is two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting.

“After a mandatory two-year hiatus, the LCT Association is back on track,” Recher says. “We’re offering four evenings of unforgettable dinner theater at the Mission Club (4300 Club House Rd, Lompoc, CA) on April 22, May 6, and June 10 and 17. The Revolutionists is a powerful and raucous play that will resonate with all who see it.” The Lompoc Theater Project can’t help but be positively affected by LCT’s colorful return. “We’re so proud to be bringing this production to the Santa Ynez Valley, and we hope to help revive our landmark theater in the process.”

Call 805-735-ACTI for Tickets & Info or Visit www.FreshTix.com

Doors open at 5:30. Reservations by Tuesday before each performance. Limited Seating Available; Includes Adult Language