Since her death from cancer on May 4 , much has been written about Derby Dinner Playhouse Producer Bekki Jo Schneider and her achievements and contributions to our community and region . She was , after all , an extremely successful business leader in a field – for-profit theatre that ’ s not Broadway – in which the phrase “ extremely successful business ” is almost unheard of . The list of awards , citations , and official recognitions she received for her success , locally and nationally , is truly impressive .
And even though she had battled the disease for years , most of us who knew her still wonder how any human malady could actually have the power , the persistence – hell , the sheer nervy balls ! – to take down Bekki Jo .
Even as we watched her grow weaker over the course of the last two years , no one – even among those of us younger than her – truly expected to outlive her : She taught us all the folly of underestimating her .
A product of Louisville ’ s South End , Bekki Jo was a Presentation Academy graduate , attended the University of Louisville , graduated from the University of Kentucky , and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London . But if it can be said about anyone in theatre that they learned their craft in the trenches , it can be said so of Bekki Jo .
By the mid-1980s , she had already been the producing director of Shakespeare In Central Park ( later , the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival ), the producer of Louisville Children ’ s Theatre ( later , StageOne Family Theatre ), and the producer of Lexington Children ’ s Theatre – leaving each one more successful than when she arrived .
In 1983 , when Bekki Jo purchased Clarksville ’ s Derby Dinner , along with partner Carolyn Lamb and a small group of investors , it seemed like folly to those who underestimated her ; dinner theatres across the country were failing , en masse , at the time .
But Bekki Jo Schneider had always had a dream – to spend her lifetime as a successful theatre artist in her hometown – and she had a plan to get there using methods honed from working in her formative years with the people who invented
Louisville professional theatre .
While still in high school , she went to work for The Carriage House Players , the legendary group of local theatre pioneers out of whose ranks evolved Louisville ’ s professional theatre culture . There , Bekki Jo was both protégé and colleague to C . Douglas Ramey , Ewel Cornett , Richard Block , Monte Priddy , Mitzi Friedlander , Warren Oates and others who collectively created and populated the organizations which became Actors Theatre Of Louisville , StageOne Family Theatre , and Kentucky Shakespeare Festival . At one point in the late ’ 50s , The Carriage House even briefly became the first dinner-theatre in the region ( if not the country ).
At The Carriage House , Bekki Jo was “ The Kid ” who mopped the floor , ran lines with actors , applied their makeup for them , built costumes and sets , stage-managed and jumped into roles with no rehearsal when actors fell ill . Through that hard work as a “ kid ,” she learned the nuts and bolts of making theatre happen , but – just as important – she learned the craft of managing a company of artists while learning the art of serving Louisville ’ s local theatre audience .
She carried the lessons of success learned at The Carriage House with her forever and often cited three pillars when describing how to make a life as an impresario , in this order :
1 ) Take care of your company of artists and technicians and craftspeople as though they ’ re your family – their loyalty will measure your success .
Bekki Jo said often that her greatest joy as a producer was helping to make actors homeowners , wanting her family of theatre-makers to be firmly planted in the American Middle Class . At Derby Dinner Playhouse , she established a paid , floating “ resident ” company of actors , singers , and dancers , many of whom performed in several Derby shows a year . Bekki Jo was their willing matriarch , making sure they had work that paid , baby-sitting their kids when the need arose , advising them on everything from car-buying to wedding plans , bailing them out of jail , and providing eight meals a week to everyone working on a show . And she was the first one to hold and console them when life ’ s tragedies struck . In her lifetime , Bekki Jo employed hundreds , maybe thousands , of actors and craftspeople , many of whom moved here to work for her , then remained and set down roots .
2 ) Listen to your audience – without them you have nothing .
Bekki Jo ’ s finger was firmly planted on the pulse of her audience . She was quick to consult them when choosing Derby Dinner seasons . Hard to believe now , but in the 1980s , most dinner theatres didn ’ t operate with pre-picked seasons ; each show opened with a tentative closing date and no definite plan for the next show . By defining theatre seasons , Bekki Jo was able to sell season-ticket packages to local audiences and also to the very lucrative tourbus / vacation circuit , which in turn boosted tourist income throughout Kentuckiana , earning Bekki Jo the kind of favor with local governments that most businesses covet .
3 ) Work harder and longer than anyone else .
Even through her cancer treatment ( at least until the last few months of her life ), Bekki Jo was the first one in the building each morning , usually at her office desk before 7 a . m ., and often she was still there after the evening ’ s performance . When her own work was done , she did whoever else ’ s work needed doing , even if that meant pouring coffee for theatre diners in the evening .
The often-underestimated Carriage House “ kid ” learned well from her own mentors and , indeed , improved on the lessons gleaned from “ The Pioneers ,” none of whom achieved the continuous level of success , or earned the accolades , of their protégé . Currently , Derby Dinner Playhouse has over 10,000 season-ticket holders . And year-round , nearly every performance of every show in its 500-seat arena , including the daytime Children ’ s Theatre season , is sold-out . It is , simply , the most successful theatre in the region .
But Bekki Jo Schneider ’ s theatre influence extends beyond Clarksville today . The region ’ s vibrant performing arts community is full of her artistic offspring – the “ grandkids ” of the
98 EXTOL : JUNE / JULY 2018