Dinner theatre in Perry features Christmas theme

An interactive dinner theatre of sorts opened this week at the Hotel Pattee in the central Iowa town of Perry. Robert Smyth is creator and producer of “A Hometown Christmas” which he says recreates a family holiday in 1913, the year the hotel first opened.Smyth says it’s an unusual blend of history, songs, stories and dances that celebrate the men, women and children who came from all over the world to settle on the Iowa prairie. This is the third year for the performance in Perry and he says it’s a little different each season.Smyth is the director of the Lamb’s Players Theatre which performs a similar type of show at a big hotel in San Diego, California. He says so many of our Christmas traditions are tied to Charles Dickens’ story “A Christmas Carol” that the troupe thought it was time for a change. He says they wanted something that gave them a real sense of America, and that’s why they started an “American Christmas.” The show runs through the 22nd. For more information, call the Hotel Pattee at 888 424-4268 or surf to “www.hotelpattee.com”.