Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts is a dinner theater in Stafford County, just outside Fredericksburg, Virginia, presenting Broadway-style musicals and live productions with an optional three-course dinner. The theater opened in June 1998 with a production of Oklahoma!, built around founder Rollin E. Wehman's vision for a dinner theater format, and today seats more than 400 guests at tiered tables around a traditional proscenium stage. The building includes Virginia's only dinner theatre fly loft, along with a chandeliered lobby and ballroom. The organization rebranded as Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in 2016, adding live orchestras to its productions, and achieved 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2024, expanding its educational programs and community scholarships in the performing arts. Patrick A'Hearn has served as CEO and Producing Artistic Director since 2010, guiding Riverside into a major regional theater along the Richmond-Washington corridor. Beyond its mainstage productions, Riverside Center nurtures local and visiting artists and runs educational programs, including a summer intensive for teens and adults, as part of its mission to bring the performing arts to the greater Fredericksburg community.