Do not work here! This is middle American theater at its worst!

Horrible. Worked there over 3 seasons, doing 10 shows total. Things got progressively worse and worse as the time went by. Constant issues with the owners (who are Republican politicians) not paying people on time, constant contract breaches or oversights, many toxic issues with production team, administration and performers, forcing actors to work without AC, housing never being up to code and causing major issues, them not paying garbage or wifi bills on time, refusing to hire new ADs or retain SMs, and so on. This theatre I believe is shut down at this point, but should it ever reopen under the same owners, DO NOT WORK HERE.

So this review hurts to write, because I did a show here earlier this year and I had a great time because of the cast, crew, and director, and the show we put on ended up being very fulfilling and successful. However, the owners are kind people but have no idea how to run a theatre and every choice they make hurts the actors. We had an issue where they cancelled over a week's worth of performances because the shows weren't selling because they weren't advertising, so actors' pay was cut by hundreds of dollars so they could save money. This goes without saying, but it's an atrocious idea to make the performers who are putting on your show suffer because you're not running a business correctly. This decision was also made the week of what was supposed to be opening, so it was incredibly discouraging to have the amount of hard work we put in to be disrespected like that. I was hoping for the best for them after my contract ended because I still had many friends who were working there and the shows seemed to be selling better, and then their plans for 2025 were announced. They are now partnered with On Stage Live Entertainment, which they didn't announce before announcing their 2025 season, which consists almost entirely of original revue musicals. That resulted in a fairly negative response from audience members and locals who are used to traditional book musicals, of which the 2024 and previous seasons consisted entirely of. The main reason I'm writing this review now is because I'm very confident tickets won't sell like they're hoping and they'll resort to cutting actors' pay again, so I would highly advise against working here unless ownership changes or they go back on their 2025 plans. Additionally, I would highly recommend checking out Round Barn's Facebook post announcing next year's season, specifically the comments from several frustrated and disappointed audience members, many of which seem to show no interest in returning. What's even worse is the response from On Stage's artistic director, who has resorted to being defensive and berating customers for reacting negatively or expressing disappointment. This is truly this most immature and disgusting response I have ever seen from an artistic director, so I'd at least recommend checking that out before auditioning. (The owners, by the way, are Republican politicians, which definitely explains their disconnect from theatre goers and their own performers.) In the end, I highly doubt that this place will be able to pay their performers next year, so I would definitely advise working here unless major changes are made. As great of a time as I had, this place seems to be going in a very poor direction. (edited)

Location is better than most. Close to Chicago, Lake Michigan etc. Three days off per week on show weeks. Housing is fine/good if you can get your own room. Great discount at the restaurant on property. Actors and creative team were wonderful, kind, easy-going. Big problems with payroll and you don't get paid if shows are canceled due to low ticket sales. Checks have bounced in the past. I would say that this is the biggest problem at this theater. Doing back to back productions will be absolutely exhausting and is probably not worth the pay. IE: rehearsing during the day, performing another show at night. But it's fine if you are young and obviously it is a good way to build up more professional credits. I wouldn't deter someone from working there though. You could definitely do better but you could also do WAY worse.

Ok. So this theater was recently bought over during the pandemic, so there have been a lot of changes within the past 3 years. The theater is on an amish tourist property, which also consists of stores, restaurants, and bakeries. The artistic director of the theater is separate from the owners of the theater/property, and unfortunately our artistic director at the time did not have much power/say on how to run the theater. When dealing with our contracts, the owners of the property wrote up our contract. They stated that our pay would be a weekly set amount, and we would receive an addition rehearsal stipend on top of that. However, when the actors received our paycheck it was 1000 short. They then decided to go back on their word and tell us that the rehearsal stipend wasn't additional it was only for the rehearsal period, even though they confirmed it was additional in writing via email. We tried speaking with the owners of the barn, and the artistic director was on our side, but they refused to talk to us. With no other choice, we then had to threaten and take legal action. They still refused to meet or speak with us, and all of the actors lost out on the money they were promised. The artistic director is a good person, but the people who own the barns will do anything in their power to exploit their actors. They only care about money. Many people left after that contract. All in all I would not recommend this theater. What the owners did to us was illegal and unlawful. It may have changed within the past year, but proceed with caution... the theater started with a very bad reputation on the mistreatment of actors. It caused a lot of trauma for our cast.