Hale Centre Theatre Owners David and Corrin Dietlein Look to the Future with Expansion and Refurbishment Project

The Hale Centre Theatre expansion will include a brand new high definition marquee
 on the front of the building

by Julia Bashaw

In 2003, David Dietlein decided to build a theatre in downtown Gilbert on an empty lot that was right next to a rusty water tower, areas with barbed wire, and some crumbling boarded up establishments. It may not have seemed at the time to be a prime location for a theatre but there were families who lived nearby and that built in audience was all Dietlein needed. Now, almost 16 years later, Hale Centre Theatre is a prestigious venue for quality theatrical entertainment, producing sometimes two different shows a week in their season which plays every week year round. The downtown Gilbert area has also expanded around the Hale, with dozens of new restaurants, additional parking and businesses with more currently being built or planned.

After so many years of success, David and his wife Corrin thought it was time to give back to their community even more, with a major expansion, renovation and remodeling effort that will add an additional 10,000 sq feet to the existing structure as well as many new added benefits.

But in order for you to grasp the importance of these new and exciting developments, we have to go back to the 1940s. You must know David's family’s history and their involvement with theatre. It began in Salt Lake City with David’s grandparents Ruth and Nathan Hale. Their eldest daughter Sandra would go on to marry Allan Dietlein and they would go on to have David and his brother Tim.

David told me about their journey.

“My Grandmother Ruth met and married my grandfather Nathan Hale. They were living in Salt Lake City and my Grandfather was working at the copper mines,” David began. “He came home one day and said 'I don’t want to be working in the coal mines anymore' and my grandmother said 'well what do you want to do' and he said 'I would like to be an actor.'

My grandmother read in the newspaper that there was a shortage of leading men in Hollywood, due to the war there just weren’t as many men around. He quit his job and they just took off for Hollywood. He got into some movies and plays in the local area and he delivered milk for a little income. My grandmother was writing as a playwright and has a number of published plays to this day. One day a friend said to them, 'why don’t you start your own theatre? Then you could be in any part you want to be in and do any play you want to!' They got a little house in Glendale, California and gutted the living room (for a theatre space). My grandmother would write her own plays, then both of them would star in them, and audiences just started to grow like crazy so they had to build another, bigger theatre. My parents Allan and Sandra Dietlein became partners with my grandparents and they later started another theatre. That one opened in 1959, audiences continued to grow again and then parking became a problem. So about a mile away they build a larger location, 450 seats, known as the Glendale Centre Theatre. My brother Tim and I got involved when my grandparents retired. Then my parents retired and we took over that too.”

The expansion will include a new building to house rehearsal spaces,
set and prop construction areas, wardrobe storage and a dance studio. 

There are five Hale theatres in total, located across three states, California, Utah, and Arizona. But Hale Theatre is not a family-owned chain like some people believe. The theatres were not given freely to the next of kin. They had to be sold, bought, and then cared for completely by the new owners. Nathan and Ruth moved back to Utah in their retirement but started yet another theatre when they were in their 70s. It was David’s decision to move to Gilbert, Arizona because he thought it would be a good place to start his own theatre.

“It was a crazy idea,” David smiled. “I called a cousin who was living here and asked if Arizona would be a good place to start a theatre. She lived in Gilbert and thought it would be a perfect fit because there were so many families out there. And I felt like the growth would be in the east valley going south and east and that’s where the future would be. And now in the present, it is and has been going that way.”

Hale owners David and Corrin Dietlein are about to celebrate
the theatre's 16th anniversary with a 10,000 foot expansion. 

When David made this risky decision, he was on his own. He found the courage and determination to go to Arizona and begin his development.

“I decided I wanted to get out of LA and start my own theatre, on my own. I had to find my way just like anybody else. There is an assumption that this is a family chain of theatres and it is not. They are all separate entities, not connected in any way. Individually owned and operated,” explained David. “I had to find a piece of property, get a loan which was tough, all on my own. I took a lot to figure out how to do this. We had to learn the business from the ground up. It was a lot of work. There were no handouts. I’ve never known less than an 80-hour work week, that’s just the nature of owning this theatre company.”

This Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert Arizona that David created opened on July 25th, 2003. Around that same time, he met his wife Corrin. She didn’t know what she was getting into but she ended up falling in love with the lifestyle.

“It’s been a learning experience for me,” Corrin admitted. “I dove head in and learned everything about the theatre, I did props, I worked the box office, and I costume designed. It is a busy and fun life. It’s been great, it’s been a ride, it’s a lot of work. As Grandma Hale said, 'theatre is a lot of stress and strain day to day but there is never a dull moment.' That is really true and the fun thing for me has really been the people. There are no people more fun in all of the world than actors. It has been a lot, many hours of work, then going home and taking care of children. But it is always worth it when you see the production that you’ve worked so hard toward and you see that you bring happiness to people. You see what it means to people to have theatre in the community and that’s made it worthwhile. It is so great that we get to freshen this place up and keep it going.”

Hale Theatre has been in smooth operation for almost 16 years now. It hasn’t been easy, but David knows that it has been worth it. He doesn’t have a ‘day job’, this is his job and with this job comes the responsibility to give back to the people he is serving. Hence the remodeling for his patrons.

The expansion will also allow the Hale lobby to be increased in size

“After 16 years everything is starting to run down,” David explained. “I knew it would only get worse if we didn’t do anything about it. We wanted to make the experience for the patrons to be better. We are remodeling the lobby and adding more seating there ,” David noted. “We got a new, state of the art sound system inside of the theatre and sound panels to absorb sound. This new sound system is the same you would find at the Paris Opera House, it is a very accurate and good sound. We put in LED stage lights and in some of the archetypal lighting. We are putting a changeable high definition marquee out front. We haven’t ever had a sign. We are remolding all of backstage and the green room. New fresh carpet. And we are adding outdoor seating for our patrons…”

“...and a pretty courtyard to make it an experience,” Corrin chimed in. “Because you know it is an experience to come to the Hale Theatre.’

But the theatre isn’t the only property that David and Corrin own. There are two other properties, a scene/paint shop that holds set pieces and is used as a rehearsal space, as well as another smaller storage location also used as a rehearsal space. Actors, actresses, and stage crew had to drive across town all day to grab a prop or costume and it was becoming too time-consuming. And they have begun to run out of room. Therefore along with the remodel of the actual Hale Theatre, David wanted to add a building structure next to the theatre connected by a hallway for cast, crew, and the owners to have access.

“Along the way we had no other place to put costumes or sets,” David said. “We have two different shows we run each week, so then the needs were greater to build another rehearsal space. There’s just more activity around and not enough room. We are going to relocate our scene shop and paint shop up here. All elements of the main shows will be here on site. We need the creative team; our directors, set designers, our carpenters, our painters, our prop and costume people, Corrin and myself, everyone that’s involved in the creative process in one place. If we can do that, we will have better communication, we can work faster, we can create more interesting shows. We can elevate the entire theatrical process.”

On top of all of that, another area in this new space will be a dance studio. Hale will soon be able to offer dance classes during the day to the general public. This dance department will double as a new on-site rehearsal space at nighttime for the theatre productions. On the second level above that, is where the costume department will be located. Everything finally in one place, more accessible for everyone involved in the shows. The only part that is not being touched is the actual theater space; the stage and seats.

The expansion project will completely change the corner in
downtown Gilbert where Hale Centre Theatre is located.

“Everyone keeps asking us if we going to add more seats,” David began. “We are keeping the theatre the same size as it is now because we like the intimacy and the relationship between the actors and the patrons. If you go too large then you lose that feeling.”

Construction began December 2018 and they hope that the remodeling and expansion will be done this July 2019. What's even more amazing than the size of the expansion is that it hasn't impacted any performances during the construction process. David and Corrin Dietlein are thrilled they were able to make these improvements and can’t wait for audiences to see the finished product.

“The satisfaction of running a theatre is the joy it brings to people and the patrons that come,” David expressed. “To see their smiles after the show, to hear them laughing. And I love seeing the actors go through their development and their happiness and talents increase. I wanted to make the experience better.”