The Arts / Performance

Circa ‘21 Bootleggers serve up food, entertainment

By David Burke | Friday, August 08, 2008 | () comments

Dennis Hitchcock quickly quotes figures from the National Restaurant Association that say the average career of a waiter or waitress is eight to nine months.

Then he contrasts that with the life-span of a Bootlegger, the performing wait staff at Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse in downtown Rock Island, which Hitchcock founded 31 years ago.

Of the 14 current Bootleggers, five have worked at Circa for more than a decade. One, Tom Lawrence, is approaching 27 years on the job.

“We feel really fortunate we have that kind of dedicated staff with the same amount of quality,” said Hitchcock, the executive director of the dinner theater.

From the day it opened in 1977, Circa ‘21 has had the Bootleggers, a wait staff that also performs a 15-minute pre-show before every production. Hitchcock said he looked at many different dinner theaters before opening his, and the ones he was the most impressed with were those using that format.

“I liked the idea of giving a forum for that talent, plus it serves the dual purpose of warming the audience up,” he said. “It’s like an opening act.”

For five performances in August, the Bootleggers will get to take center stage for their own production. But that’s not keeping them from waiting tables.

“They actually have to go out into audience at intermission and do their jobs with their audience and come back and get ready to go back on again,” Shellee Frazee, the director of the Bootleggers show, said, shaking her head in amazement.

According to Circa, the Bootleggers make it one of only two dinner theaters in the country — the other being the Derby Dinner Playhouse in Clarksville, Ind., a Louisville, Ky., suburb — that has a performing wait staff.

Hitchcock said he could understand the economic logic of cutting out the performing servers, but he wouldn’t dare do it here.

“Their wait staffs probably weren’t as ingrained with the audience. Our audience loves them,” he said. “They’ve always been successful with the audience. People who come here love the Bootleggers.”

Head Bootlegger Brad Hauskins said he remembers a previous general manager who long ago suggested getting rid of that part of the staff, but the idea was shot down quickly.

“It has everything a performer needs,” added Hauskins, who is nearing 21 years on the job, “a steady job, a performing outlet and a positive place to work where you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to be doing next month or whether you’re going to have work.”

It also gives Bootleggers a chance to move up to mainstage shows. Hauskins was featured in the two previous Circa productions, “Smoke on the Mountain” and “Empty Nest,” being called in for the latter on two days’ notice.

Hauskins said he encourages the Bootleggers to take roles elsewhere and then welcomes them back to the team.

“I’m never going to tell them they can’t come back,” he said. “We’ve launched a lot of careers through this position.”

Liz Millea, the newcomer of the bunch with 13 months on the job, took several weeks off this summer to play Maria in Countryside Community Theatre’s “The Sound of Music.”

“The understanding of the theater world is something that’s so great here,” she said. “You can wait tables anywhere, but here you have your family around. You can go off for a few months and do a show and still have a job.”

As performers and wait staff, the Bootleggers are on their feet from the minute the house opens —directing people to their seats, then serving drinks, and soup or salad — to providing random musical greetings for the birthdays and anniversaries of customers at the pre-show, usually themed to the mainstage production itself. One last check of customers is given before showtime, then they return at intermission with desserts. At the end of the night, they settle up customers’ bills, fold napkins and get ready for the next performance.

It takes a special talent to fill all those roles, said Hauskins, who auditions potential Bootleggers along with Circa’s general manager and business manager.

“The first thing I look for is vocal ability. I look for someone who’s a strong singer. That’s the beginning,” he said. “I can teach a singer how to wait tables, but I can’t teach a waiter how to sing.

“People who are strong singers tend to be strong personalities, they tend to be confident. They tend to enjoy performing,” he added.

Bootleggers repeatedly say how much of a close-knit group they are.

“We really do have a strong group of people that aren’t afraid to express themselves,” Hauskins said.

Andrea Moore, a 10-year veteran of the Bootleggers, said she’s stayed with the job because it’s one she doesn’t have to take home with her.

“You don’t go home and work on the computer,” she said. “You’re here at 3:30 and leave at 10:30 and it’s done.”

Some of the Bootleggers say they know their stage is set the minute the doors are opened.

“You’re pretty much always putting on a show,” said Sara Nicks, a two-year Bootlegger.

Despite the inevitable irritating customer, the Bootleggers always keep a cheerful attitude and a smile on their face.

“It’s part of the show,” Moore said. “People often say, ‘It looks like you’re having so much fun,’ and I’ll say, ‘Yep, looks like it!’ ”

When making their reservations, Hitchcock said, customers will repeatedly ask for certain Bootleggers to be their servers. Bootleggers, in turn, will remember customers from one show to the next.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that in a restaurant,” he said.

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Bootlegger show

When: 7:15 p.m. Thursdays (doors open at 5:45 p.m., buffet from 6-7 p.m.) in August, as well as 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 28 (doors open at 11:45 a.m., lunch from noon to 1 p.m.)

Where: Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island

How much: $40 for evening shows; $37 for matinee

Information: (309) 786-7733, Ext. 2, or Circa21.com on the Web