Allen Theatre — Attraction in Cleveland

Fantastic theatre performance. God awful administration. I went to purchase food at intermission. While waiting in a twenty person line, the manager himself directed me to an alternate concession stand 5 minutes before intermission ended. Purchased my $20 popcorn and pretzel and rushed back to the theatre food in hand only to be told I couldn't bring the food inside. This was the first time I was alerted to this fact as there are no signs posted anywhere in the theatre or at the concession stands nor is it posted in the playbill (pictured) or any mention of it made in the various preshow or intermission announcements. So I abandoned the food and told the usher I would need my money back following the performance. After the show (which again was fantastic) ended, I went to speak with the manager who gave a series of excuses and claimed there were signs "everywhere" that said no food was allowed in. This was a lie as there are no signs at the concession stand (pictured) and no employees of the concession stands mentioned anything about the food not being allowed into the theatre at time of purchase.

He flat out refused to give a refund and suggested I just call the following monday to complain and maybe they would grace me with a refund or perhaps a discount on future shows. Not terribly helpful since I'm not from Cleveland nor have any plans to return. So now I'm left with the only choice being to file a complaint with my credit card company and leave this one star review that would have otherwise been a five star night.

On the way out I passed a guy with a bag of popcorn, I asked him if they let him into the theatre with it and he said "yea they just made me close it" so I guess the rules are selectively enforced.

To the administration: I will remove this review if I receive my money back as long as the refund is given willingly and not as the result of the credit card company reversing the charges. Until then I'll be copying this review to every review platform I can find. If you won't alert your patrons in a timely manner that food will not be allowed in to your performances...

I enjoy the play Black Nativity our seats was in the second row and you can see everything I felt the stage was a bit small but they made good use of it as professionals I really enjoyed the live performance of the actors and the musicians the sound quality was great the only thing that I didn't like is where I was sitting because it felt like someone had a door open and it was very cold in there for some reason the staff there was very professional and attentive the only thing I felt was unusual was when we went back to the front door to get out they had the doors locked I felt like this could have been a fire safety issue we had to find someone to unlock the door I don't know why that was their policy during a performance I can see if they was trying to prevent people from getting in but we were already in and couldn't get out as our transportation arrived our drivers were not able to enter the building they need to change that it is really unsafe especially during...

I went to see Christmas Story Thursday night and not only was the show good. The theater is decked out in Christmas trees. All the trees are beautiful. Now let me tell you about the staff, my clutch feel between the seats and when I got up i picked up my phone, the program and we left our box seats. We took pictures in the lobby and had a wonderful time. We left the theater chatting and happy. My great-niece sssa she was a little hungry so we stopped for a bite to eat, that's when I discovered my wallet was gone. I called first thing in the morning and again a little later. I was on the phone with Glen the kind security guy who said they had just brought up a wallet. I was so relieved and happy. Picked it up before noon. I hope the person that turned it in has a very Merry Christmas as the card said. You have restored my faith in us as humans. Thank you. Cleveland is lucky to have the Playhouse and the Playhouse is lucky to have...