Romsey Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society was founded on 11th October 1934 and the first shows were staged at the Town Hall. This venue was soon redundant when the purpose-built Crosfield Hall was commissioned. Until the early 1950s much emphasis was placed on the delivery of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas. That policy was abandoned as the society faced near insolvency when bills for the orchestra, costumes and royalties exceeded income from tickets. Ruddigore was the show - and almost the result! A pattern of productions was developed, which continued for the next thirty years, of a pantomime and two plays during each season. This was sometimes varied by an evening of Music Hall or Revue and in 1970 came Salad Days, our first non - G&S musical.

Having a place to call home is often a pipe dream for amateur companies. For many years, RAODS had the great good fortune of being able to store costumes, properties, backcloths and flats in The Barn and other outbuildings on the property of one of our outstanding members, Geoffrey Wills. As Geoffrey became older, the need to find a home of our own became more pressing. The Plaza Cinema had opened in the early 1930s. By the 70s it had ceased to show films, and had become a bingo hall. Then even Bingo came to a full stop. The building stood forlorn and empty. After much trial and tribulation, in 1982, RAODS acquired the freehold and set about converting it into a theatre. In January 1984 the theatre was opened by Lord Romsey; the first show was Jack and the Beanstalk. Since then, RAODS have presented at least five shows each season and sometimes as many as fourteen.

Owning and managing a theatre sets RAODS apart from most amateur companies. It sets us apart in terms of responsibility (for a property) and opportunity (to mount a wide variety of shows). RAODS is a long-standing member of the Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain, a national group of theatres owned and operated by their own members. The theatre is available for hire by other amateur groups and by professional companies. It is let for lectures and has been used occasionally for conferences and when the occasion arises, the Plaza is a local and national election Polling Station. There is a costume hire department which opens on an appointment basis. A wide range of costumes may be hired for shows by other companies and by individuals for fancy dress parties. Current membership is at just over 300 members. Between them the members run, on an entirely voluntary basis, the front of house, backstage, the building of sets, the bar and of course they secure the upkeep of the building.

2010 saw RAODS celebrate its 75th anniversary with a special gala performance of The Mikado, as homage to the first show staged by RAODS, The Mikado, at the Romsey Town Hall in February 1935.

The Plaza was built during 1931 as a cinema and the theatre facade is characteristic of the Art Deco era. The structure can be dated from this time by the presence of newspaper which was used to line the shuttering when the undersides of the main staircases were formed - extracts of the March 1931 edition of 'John Bull' magazine are preserved and still legible!

When the cinema closed, the building was used for several years as a bingo hall, until that closed in the early 1980s.

In 1983 RAODS lost the use of their storage and set building facility on a local farm. This brought about an urgent need to locate another barn or building to keep the scenery and props in. Fortuitously at the same time the local cinema, The Plaza came on to the market. It was immediately obvious that the building could be converted not to a storage facility but to a "Proper Theatre". Thus the scene was set for much hard work and serious fund raising. The task of raising in the order of £150,000 seemed at times beyond reach, however the building was purchased and the alterations undertaken to provide a 246 seat theatre with most of the normal technical and audience facilities.

After being empty for two years many hours were put in by RAODS members to convert it to the Theatre you see today.

As-built, the Plaza was a 400 seat cinema with a balcony and stalls below - the reconstruction work lifted the stage and auditorium creating a single rake of audience seating and making available space on the ground floor for dressing rooms and the Green Room coffee lounge. The film store off the old projection room (now theatre lighting and sound control room) saw service as the emergency lighting battery room before being converted into a small office.

During the mid-80s conversion, the stage door and scene dock were added to the rear of the building.

Over the last few years the facilities have been gradually brought up to date, with the addition of a purpose built workshop and surfacing of the carpark in 1989. Award winning disabled facilities were installed in the early 1990s, and a new chairlift replaced the existing one in 2010. The front row of 15 seats were removed to create sufficient space for wheelchairs, resulting in a revised seating capacity of 231. Lighting and Sound equipment was purchased to a standard that rivals many other professional venues. 1997 saw the building of a new roof, that allowed air handling plant and ventilation ductwork to be installed to improve comfort for theatre audiences. At the beginning of April 2005 the ventilation system was upgraded to feature true air-conditioning in the Plaza auditorium. The next major project to be undertaken was upgrading the multi-function Green Room and adjoining kitchen into a modern bar and studio theatre.

The 10th June 2007 marked the auspicious 25th anniversary of the day in 1982 that RAODS acquired the Plaza Theatre.