A weekly program focusing on the arts and entertainment

It was once known as the Mission Inn dinner Theater and it was based, logically enough, at the Mission Inn. That, however, proved to be a bad marriage so the group move to Landis Auditorium on the RCC campus, becoming Performance Riverside. And, it still had troubles.

Too large and structured to be classified a community theater and minus the budget and glitz of the Fox Entertainment Center, Performance Riverside was considered to out of the loop to compete with these rivals.

But as Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Sokolsky points out, it is doing well with a program consisting largely of vintage shows like ‘Carousel’ and ‘Annie’.

Performance Riverside managing directort Ray O’Day says the company’s policy of asking audiences to help choose its productions is obviously working well. Sokolsky agrees, but adds that it may also be a matter of nobody liking the shows but the people.