'Dinner' time: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble returns to McAninch

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble is back — just as its ensemble members intended and its loyal patrons hoped.

After a two-year hiatus, the equity theater company returns Friday — with a revival of the farce “Don't Dress for Dinner” — to the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. BTE had been in residence at COD for 27 years until 2014, when officials terminated the theater's relationship with the school for underperforming financially.

Not every theater recovers from such a loss. But BTE is not every theater.

Ensemble members intended to maintain the company as an itinerant ensemble, said artistic director Connie Canady Howard. But public support, including a letter-writing campaign by patrons and former students calling on COD trustees to reinstate the company, inspired hope in Howard and associate artistic director Amelia Barrett that one day BTE would return to its longtime home.

“Support from outside the ensemble drove the movement,” said Howard, a COD instructor and director of theater who says she received email, social media and cellphone messages weekly from supporters. “It speaks to the affection individuals have for us. It's an honor to receive that.”

Howard and her colleagues had no idea how much the public valued BTE, which was founded in 1986 to produce works celebrating relationships and the human condition through contemporary drama and comedy.

“It was something really important to many more people than I realized. It buoyed us,” she said.

The theater's status at the college came up during several town meetings prior to the last election. That interest led to Howard and Barrett making several presentations to college trustees. In April, the COD board committed to a two-year partnership with the theater, which has since incorporated as a nonprofit organization.

Howard attributes their return, in part, to the educational component that has always been part of BTE's mission.

“One of the benefits to having a professional ensemble in residence was to provide a professional model for students,” she said.

Several company members teach at the college and former students have returned to work on BTE productions, Howard said. Additionally, the group established a high school outreach program and a scholarship for students interested in stage management. And its presence on campus also helps nurture the next generation of theatergoers.

“In some ways, it's a rebirth,” said ensemble member Kurt Naebig, who's directing Howard and ensemble member Robert Jordan Bailey in “Don't Dress for Dinner.” “Everyone came back with determination, excitement and a sense of many things being possible.”

Like his fellow ensemble members, the actor/director busied himself with other projects during the hiatus, but welcomed the chance to reunite with longtime colleagues.

“After you take a break, get a rest, you're ready to rock 'n' roll again,” Naebig said, pointing out that company members picked up immediately the shorthand they had established over decades of collaboration.

“Rehearsing this play, I'm laughing all night long,” Naebig said.

Howard said she and Barrett selected a comedy as their return production to “welcome audiences back with a laugh.”

“We're happy to be back,” she said.

“Don't Dress for Dinner”

<b>Where:</b> Buffalo Theatre Ensemble at the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn, (630) 942-4000, <a href="http://AtTheMac.org">AtTheMac.org</a>

<b>When:</b> Friday, Sept. 9, through Oct. 9

<b>Tickets:</b> $35