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Arts
September 2015
Hale Centre Theatre crowns downtown Gilbert BY KENNETH LAFAVE
Hale Centre Theatre opened 12 years ago in downtown Gilbert. The neighborhood was, to say the least, not what it is today. “Next door was a trailer park, with broken beer bottles everywhere,” recalled David Hale Dietlein, who owns and runs the theater with his wife, Corrin. “The town water tower was rusted, with barbed wire around it. An old, beatup gas station was across the street from Joe’s Barbecue, the only restaurant. The gas station always seemed abandoned.” Today, a Park ‘n’ Ride has replaced the trailer park. And it is much in demand, as downtown Gilbert has become a chic
Dave Dietlein, along with wife, Corrin, opened the Hale Centre Theatre with a vision of producing family shows. Submitted photo
destination. Joe’s Barbecue remains, but it is now the flagship among a fleet of eateries that feature everything from seafood to tacos. An Oregano’s Restaurant stands where the gas station was. The town water tower glistens white. Hale Centre Theatre had a role in the transformation. Its sold-out performances of family theater fare has brought thousands of visitors to downtown Gilbert and helped create a demand for the kind of cultural infrastructure the area now enjoys. The theater’s founding resulted from Dietlein’s casual phone conversation with a relative. Dietlein’s grandparents, Nathan and Ruth Hale, were the founders of Glendale, California’s Hale Centre Theatre, a thriving family venue since its inception in 1947. He grew up working in the theater, and watched as his grandparents’ operation expanded to additional theaters in California and Utah. “I worked in L.A. theater professionally from 1982 to about 1999, and I was really wanting to get out of L.A.,” Dietlein said. “The congestion, the traffic—I wanted to find another place. I went north with my brother, Tim, who was my partner in the Glendale theater, and we spent a year looking for a different space for a theater.” Their search came up dry, but one day Dietlein called a cousin who lived in Gilbert and told her about his challenge. “She said this would be a fabulous place for a theater like Hale, because it was a great family area. I drove out to take a look around.”
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Dietlein drove around the Valley and considered Phoenix, Scottsdale and Mesa as possible locations. “But when it came down to the line, I went with my gut. Gilbert felt right.” Then-mayor Cynthia Dunham agreed, encouraging Dietlein to look past the broken beer bottles. Dunham and her administration “had a great vision for the downtown area,” Dietlein said. “They kept telling me the area had great potential. Part of the time I agreed, and part of the time I thought, ‘Am I crazy?’” Nine banks rejected Dietlein’s loan application, but a 10th, the nowshuttered Union Bank, loaned him the money. Dietlein brought the building in right in time for his announced opening night, so narrowly making the budget that he couldn’t even afford to finish the baseboards in the lobby. Since that opening night in 2003, the 348-seat house has not known one dark night. There is always a show going on, whether it’s the main series, running Wednesdays through Sundays, or the Monday thought Tuesday night secondary series. Though Gilbert’s Hale Centre Theatre is
www.GilbertSunNews.com one of five producing in three states and owned by members of the same family, each is run independently; the group is not a franchise. “We all live and die on our own. There’s no common decision-making or financing,” Dietlein said. The Dietleins choose the plays and musicals to be produced at their theater by selecting from the range of popular shows. The only restriction is that the script needs to be family-friendly. The Hale just concluded a production of “Tarzan” and opened a production of the detective spoof, “Something’s Afoot.” The upcoming season will also include “Mary Poppins,” “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “West Side Story.” For a complete listing of the season and for ticket information, go to www.haletheatrearizona.com. Unlike almost all other live theaters in the country, the five Hale venues rely wholly on ticket sales for revenue, without added income from state or corporate donors. “We can never sit still and assume it’s always going to be like it has been,” Dietlein concluded. “We have to put our best foot forward every time, and produce the best shows we can on a conservative budget.”
Hale Centre Theatre’s production of “Something’s Afoot” opens the 2015-2016 season. Submitted photo
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The cast of “Something’s Afoot” rehearses at Hale Centre Theatre. Submitted photo
With productions like “Something’s Afoot,” Hale Centre Theatre relies solely on ticket sales for revenue. Submitted photo