Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center — Attraction in Dayton

The Dayton Live organization brings a variety of performances, concerts, and entertainment to the Schuster Center. They may bring good shows, but their tickets are way overpriced. Try going to Columbus or Cincinnati instead, especially for Broadway performances. In addition, the way they treat their volunteers is disgusting. The front-end house management team (Sarah, Alec, Dan, Derrick, Kevin, Janine) act like members of the Dayton Live Gestapo. They treat volunteers like naughty school children, trying to “catch” them doing something wrong. They make them ask permission for everything. This is nothing more than a power grab.

After recently attending Broadway’s PETER PAN, I noticed the volunteers were required to clean up the auditorium after the performance. They were doing the job of custodians, and yet they are VOLUNTEERS. Here were women and men over 65 carrying large plastic bags, picking up peoples’ trash, programs, empty glasses, bottles with liquid in them, candy, wrappers, etc. I watched as one of the garbage bags leaked all over an older woman’s nice slacks. I also saw a volunteer cleaning up spilled Coca-Cola and refreshments that were stuck to the floor. He was actually wiping the floor with a wet rag, and he was dressed in his nice formal clothing. This speaks very poorly for the administrative team. I wonder why none of the house managers were helping with the cleanup. I saw two of them walking out as patrons were leaving. Why weren’t they working? Volunteers are treated as indentured servants.

I observed that the management team imposes their tyranny on the women more than the men. In November, I heard a bar captain yelling at two of the volunteer women, and he did it right in front of customers (I was one of the customers). Do you think he would yell at some of the big, heavy-set male volunteers? Not only NO, but Hell NO.

I also noticed older female volunteers sitting on folding stools and craning their necks to see a show when there were SCADS of empty rows with open seats available. One of the volunteers had trouble sitting and getting into and out of her folding stool. I was afraid she would fall. These volunteers are just that—-volunteers. They love and promote the performing arts They are not slaves. They save Dayton Live millions of dollars every year. AND—- they are adults. Why does the management “bite the hands that feed them? Why not treat these folks with the respect...

My family attended these facilities to see a Hamilton performance and I can't over state what a fantastic time we had. Dayton is a drive for us at over three hours, but it was well worth it for the show and the location.

We arrived about 40 minutes prior to the start of the show and we were able to easily park in the arts garage. The garage offered special event pricing of $10. The garage was nice with stairs and an elevator. There was plenty of parking, and though the city did not close the street for the start of the show, they did have it closed for the exit. The garage and theater are right off the highway, so there was hardly any traffic getting both in and out.

Once inside, expect modern and clean facilities. They had metal detectors and random bag checks at the entrance. As promised in the prep email, they had an in-house Starbucks and seating area. The merchandise and concessions were open well before the show. There were concessions on each level of the playhouse.

We had seats in the orchestra. I was able to get them at an amazing discount by purchasing from the playhouse directly well in advance (over 6 months). The seats were some of the most comfortable I've been in, and I've visited quite a few theaters. There was a lot of seating, the sound and lighting was perfect, and of course the show was amazing. The building also has a special star feature on the ceiling which was intriguing. All in all, one of the best playhouses I've had the...

We saw the Saturday matinee performance of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird starring Richard Thomas, The venue is a beautiful facility, very clean and well maintained. I would've liked to have seen more security precautions in this day and age. Before the performance it was super crowded before they allowed us into the actual theater. The Broadway teaching session on top floor seems to cut it pretty close for folks to make it comfortably to their seats in time for the performance. Opening the theater seating doors about 15 minutes earlier would have been welcome for those of us who do not stand well for long periods. The usher at the door was not well prepared with any programs when we did get into theater. So had to leave my seat in the nosebleed section to get our programs later. She had a guessing game going on where the seats were located also. I'm sure they could be volunteers but not at all well prepared on the top balcony fyi. Even though it was the upper most balcony, viewing the performance was still good. Starting the performance just began with Scout on stage talking, where it would've been nice to have quieted the audience and more seated before it began. People were still being seated from the educational lesson outside running too long. The arts parking garage was very handy. If you walk easily there are many restaurants...