Going to “a night at the theater” is the one of the main reasons why theater lovers enjoy the theater. Most large to medium-sized cities in the United States have an arts community, which includes local community theaters and expansive performance art spaces. If you live in a college town, chances are the college has a theater department that produces plays and musicals. The only drawback to this idea is there may not be a play showing the night of the birthday. Another idea for a 60th birthday, if you have a high budget, is to fly to New York and attend a Broadway show. Some Broadway theaters do not have shows on Monday nights due to the Sunday matinees.
If throwing a theater-themed party for a 60-year-old, have all the party guests dress in costumes from a famous play or musical. If possible, choose costumes from the birthday person's favorite show. For example, guests at a “Phantom of the Opera” party could dress in elegant clothing and some of the males don “phantom” masks. Cities with strong theater communities (New York, Seattle, Chicago, Toronto) have specialty shops with theater costumes for rent. If you live in a city with no such shop, a costume party gives you a chance to be creative and design your own costume. Local colleges and theaters offer workshops on designing costumes.
At the birthday party, engage the party's guests by playing theater games. Theater games help the party's guests to interact with one another and release their creative juices. One form of theater games is improvisation, or improv. During improv, game participants complete an acting scene by using their own dialogue. Before the scene starts, the actors must know the setting of the scene and who their characters are. Mime versions of improv consist of the participants acting out a scene without any spoken words. In some mime games, the audience tries to figure out what scene the actors are performing.
If the birthday person loves musicals, an idea for a theater-themed party is a Broadway musical sing-a-long. Since the birthday person is 60, it is likely some of his favorite tunes come from musicals originally produced in the 1950s or 1960s. Popular musicals during that era were “My Fair Lady,” “Sound of Music,” “Oliver!,” “Hair,” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” However, just because he is 60 doesn't mean he does not listen to newer musicals such as “The Lion King,” "Les Miserables" and “Rent.” When doing a sing-a-long, make sure you have a piano or karaoke music player, though singing a capella is also an option.