Redesign shines a new light on Overland Park’s New Theatre

Audiences who ventured into the New Theatre in 1992 found themselves immersed in an environment that was quirky, idiosyncratic and virtually unprecedented.

Owners Richard Carrothers and Dennis Hennessy, who had already written a lucrative success story with their original Missouri-side dinner theaters — the old Tiffany’s Attic and Waldo Astoria — poured all their resources into the new Overland Park location. And they took pains to signal a break from the past.

Hence the word “new” in the company’s name. This was going to be dinner theater like nobody had experienced.

And people knew it as soon as they walked in the door. A white mannequin was seated at a piano. Another human figure descended head-first from the lobby ceiling. Inside the theater, more gray-toned figures peered out over faux boxes built into the theater walls. Above one exit, a man’s face, hands and feet burst from the wall, as through trapped in concrete in a bizarre “Philadelphia Experiment” scenario.

After more than 20 years of the calculatedly unconventional decor, Hennessy and Carrothers decided it had outlived its usefulness.

So, on Jan. 18, crews began working three eight-hour shifts to transform the lobby, restrooms, buffet lines and auditorium in four weeks of frenzied activity.

Most of the mannequins went away. New light-emitting diode (LED) panels were installed above the seating areas and in the lobby, creating a visual style that is sleek and futuristic, even as it recalls the elegance of art deco.

Most of the work had been done by the time the current production, “Forever Plaid,” began performances on Feb. 19, although more than 500 new chairs are still waiting to be unloaded from a cargo ship in California.

Carrothers said the look was the result of a vision he and Jim Misenheimer, the theater’s associate technical director, developed together. Carrothers said the process began two years ago, when the theater partnered with a company in China to fabricate the LED lighting to the theater’s specifications.

“Literally everything you see in the theater was built in China,” Carrothers said.

The lighting in the theater employs 4 million diodes and is run by three computers, Carrothers said. The new system also allows greater creative choices for lighting the stage. The company’s summer production of “Hairspray” will incorporate the ceiling lights into the show’s finale, effectively transforming the entire theater into the interior of a jukebox.

“You haven’t begun to see the potential of this system,” he said.

The lighting decor in the lobby, on the other hand, was made by local crews working in rented space in the caves. Carrothers declined to state the cost of the facelift, other than to say the lighting for the auditorium cost $250,000, not including labor costs.

“It were to purchase it from a company in this country, it would cost more than $3 million,” he said.

The new decor, just like the original interior design of the theater when it opened in 1992, is a direct reflection of the personal tastes of Carrothers and Hennessy. It’s how they’ve always done things. And Carrothers said they still get turned on by the challenge of trying something that hasn’t been done.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Even though we’re all getting along in years doesn’t mean that it satiates your appetite for something new and looking forward,” he said.

This story was originally published March 6, 2015 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Redesign shines a new light on Overland Park’s New Theatre."