Riverside Center for the Performing Arts is riding what its CEO calls the strongest two-year stretch in the venue’s history, buoyed by a fall-and-holiday surge that brought nearly 26,000 people through the doors for two productions alone.
Patrick Ahern, Riverside’s CEO and producing artistic director, shared the figures during a Jan. 5, 2026, appearance on “Town Talk” on NewsTalk 1230 WFVA, a Fredericksburg-area radio program hosted by Ted Schubel.
Ahern said Riverside’s productions of “The Sound of Music” and “White Christmas” drew almost 26,000 attendees from Aug. 20 through the end of 2025, calling the result a combination of recognizable titles, strong word of mouth, and outreach that brought new customers into the theater.
Riverside became a nonprofit organization in January 2024, and Ahern said the theater has completed its first two nonprofit years in the black, with a financial cushion. He noted that many nonprofit theaters nationwide are satisfied simply to break even, making Riverside’s recent performance unusual in the performing arts industry.
Located at 95 Riverside Parkway in the Stafford County portion of Fredericksburg, Riverside markets itself as a dinner-and-show destination with free parking and a shorter drive than Washington, D.C., for many regional theatergoers.
Ahern said Riverside expanded its advertising footprint in 2025, including television spots reaching into Northern Virginia and Prince William County. He credited a promotional campaign for “The Sound of Music,” including a commercial filmed at Chatham, with drawing large numbers of first-time visitors who later returned for “White Christmas.”
With that growth, ticket availability has tightened, particularly when customers wait until late in a show’s run to purchase seats.
Looking ahead to 2026, Riverside is making a strategic change to shorten the length of most show runs. Ahern said productions that run eight to 10 weeks often experience slow attendance early on because audiences believe they have plenty of time to attend. Beginning this year, most mainstage shows will run six or seven weeks in an effort to create urgency and stabilize attendance throughout the run.
The condensed schedule will also give Riverside flexibility to extend popular shows if demand warrants, rather than being locked into a fixed calendar, Ahern said.
Riverside’s next mainstage production is “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” which is scheduled to open Friday, Jan. 16, and run through Sunday, March 1, 2026. The show will be performed in a 90-minute, one-act format with no intermission.
Ahern acknowledged that early ticket sales have been slower than expected but said he anticipates momentum will build once performances begin and audiences experience the production. He praised the cast, which features three performers portraying Donna Summer at different stages of her life, and described the show as high-energy and concert-like while still telling a personal story.
Later in 2026, Riverside plans to stage an eclectic season that includes “Little Women: The Musical,” “Guys and Dolls,” Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” “Sweeney Todd,” and a holiday production of “A Christmas Carol.”
Ahern also credited Riverside’s nonprofit board of directors for helping guide the organization through its transition, singling out Becky Dinello, the board’s current president, for her leadership.
