Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre’s goal is to give audiences what they want to see. Especially postpandemic, said Justin Kiska, the organization’s president and managing director, “people just want to be entertained. We give them a magical evening where they can forget about the outside world.”

As such, Way Off Broadway is “your ticket to Broadway in Mid- Maryland,” he added. “We do five mainstage Broadway-style productions a year – classic drama, comedy, and musicals, even some original works – a little bit of everything for every taste,” Kiska said. A two-hour dinner buffet precedes every performance, enhancing the value of the full evening experience. The group also presents special events, including an interactive murder mystery series, “Breakfast with Santa (and Mrs. Claus),” and a surprise or two.

The former Keynote Dinner Theater, founded in late 1990, became Way Off Broadway in 1995. When Justin’s father, Bill, was looking for a post-9/11 alternative to his travel industry career, he learned that the theater where he and his sons had worked in various capacities in the past was on the market. The Kiskas took the reins in early 2002.

The business remains a family affair, with Bill presiding as executive producer and chief executive officer; matriarch Deb as general manager and chief financial officer; and son Trey as associate producer and occasional actor. Rounding out the management team are artistic director and resident musical director Jordan B. Stocksdale, who Justin considers “a second brother.”

Bill and Justin Kiska, along with Stocksdale, go through the complex process of putting each season together, narrowing a master list of everyone’s suggestions, including those gleaned from audience surveys, and checking with agents to see which productions are available. The 2023 season will kick off with “Camelot,” which Justin noted, “not everyone can go to New York to see it.” A “smaller” musical comedy, “Church Basement Ladies,” “which our community has been asking for,” he said, will follow in the spring.

The summer, “always a little tricky because of vacations,” has to be a “big-name draw,” Justin said. This time, it will be the “big, bright, fun ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.’” For the fall, Way Off Broadway will present the area premiere of the musical comedy, “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” “It’s a dark comedy, unique in that one actor plays 12 characters,” Justin said.

The season’s fifth production is always an original family Christmas show. Justin, also the author of Way Off Broadway’s special two-weekend interactive murder mystery shows as well as the Parker City Mystery Series of novels, has written most of the holiday productions. But the hottest ticket of the year is always the most family-friendly, “Breakfast with Santa (and Mrs. Claus),” featuring the ever-popular Trey Kiska, who has joyfully played the role of Jingles the Elf for the last 20 years.

Willowtree Plaza, 5 Willowdale Drive, Frederick • 301-662-6600 wayoffbroadway.com