How I Go Columbia: Tiffany Dinsmore

Tiffany Dinsmore wears a lot of hats in community theater. She has acted, produced, done costumes and helped out with sets. Dinsmore, 48, is director of children’s theater and site supervisor for an after-school program at the Irmo Chapin Recreation Commission. She and her husband, George, have two grown children. They live in the Ballentine area, between Irmo and Chapin, where she sits on the board of Chapin Theatre Company. They’ve moved around a lot but have been here 11 years now and expect to stay.

EAT: A lot of times after we do a show at Harbison Theatre, we will go to the British Bulldog Pub on Bower Parkway. It has a good atmosphere. Instead of a general sports bar, they have soccer on TV, and rugby. You get to try different foods, especially on their late-night menu. Last time I got Irish eggrolls; they had cabbage and corned beef in them. They have great beer on tap, all kinds of different beers from Ireland and Germany and all over the place. Carolina Ale House is always accommodating of big groups. We like going there after shows, too. They have karaoke sometimes, and the Carolina Ale House in the Vista is fun to go to at lunch because they have that wonderful open rooftop area. And I love the fish tacos.

PLAY: I love walking or jogging the Lake Murray dam. We have such beautiful outdoor spaces here in South Carolina, why be stuck in a gym? On sunny days, I always end up meeting people on the dam. The lake is so pretty. And it’s flat. I don’t like too many hills when I’m jogging.

LISTEN: I love the music down on the river at the amphitheater in West Columbia.

SEE: I like driving visitors around in downtown Columbia. I show them USC and the cool little neighborhoods we have, like Shandon, Elmwood, Cottontown. I like showing them the older buildings. Town Theatre is the oldest continuously running theater in the country. I usually take them to the dam and the zoo, too.

WHY STAY HERE: I like it because it’s diverse and we’re sort of in the middle of things. Columbia is not too big that you can’t maybe make a name for yourself if you want to, but it’s not too small so that everybody knows what you’re getting into. For a city our size, we have two ballet companies, a philharmonic, many, many, many live theater venues. We have concerts, Broadway shows coming in, and we’re so close to so many things: Atlanta, the beach, mountains.

Dawn Hinshaw

This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 2:40 PM with the headline "How I Go Columbia: Tiffany Dinsmore."