FIESTA DINNER THEATRE WILL CLOSE IN ’88
Fiesta Dinner Theatre, the oldest surviving dinner theater in the San Diego area, will close its doors after the Jan. 10 performance of “Angel on My Shoulder.”
Joe and Lois Stevens, owners of the Fiesta, expressed “great sadness” in their announcement. Ironically, the closing will coincide with the establishment’s 10th anniversary.
Joe Stevens said that business has been “spotty” this year, but he insisted that ticket sales alone were not to blame for the decision.
“Actually, this past fiscal year was better than the previous year. The decision was really not based on any one reason,” he said. “Rents and production costs have gotten very expensive, and food costs have increased by 50 to 60%, but the big problem is product.
“There’s a real shortage of shows suitable for dinner theater. There just hasn’t been much coming out in the last six years, and we’re running out of Neil Simon shows.”
Stevens intends to pursue other business opportunities.
That will leave the Lawrence Welk Village Theatre in Escondido as the only dinner theater in the San Diego area.
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