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"Lenhoff, SOS Group Dispute Call for Playhouse to Move"
"YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The ink was barely dry, pardon the cliche, when two letters arrived disputing The Business Journal's contention that the Youngstown Playhouse should abandon its landmark community theater facility on the city's lower South Side."For the Playhouse to have a chance to return to the days when it drew huge audiences and good reviews, it must stage its productions downtown which is becoming the cultural district of the Mahoning Valley," we wrote. (READ FULL TEXT) "Downtown Youngstown is home to the Youngstown Symphony, Ballet Western Reserve and Oakland Center for the Arts -- and Stambaugh Auditorium is less than a half mile away."Wrong, responded Bentley Lenhoff, the man whose aborted return to the community theater as its managing director has touched off a war for control of the Playhouse (READ STORY). "What sense does it make to vacate a building that you've just spent $1.9 million to improve without first attempting to make it a going operation?" Lenhoff asked in his letter to the editor.Wrong, added the Save Our Stage, a group formed to apply public pressure to force Lenhoff's return. "Speaking from experience, we have seen proof within the last decade that if you offer a quality product, people will buy," the SOS letter stated.Here is the full text of Lenhoff's letter (with the SOS letter to follow):To the Editor,I do not wish to see the Playhouse harmed any more than it has been. My purpose has been -- and continues to be -- to see the Playhouse return to a responsible, creative and productive community asset.Before the Playhouse secured and spent a $1.9 million dollar grant to improve its present facility, I agreed with the view you expressed in an editorial earlier this week that the Playhouse would be better located downtown. Not only did I agree, I led an effort to convince the Playhouse to join other arts organizations in moving downtown. (See attachment that I wrote more than a decade ago.) At the meeting of those organizations that Mike Morley and I had called, the Playhouse balked and walked.Now, with the use of that federal grant, I believe the Playhouse must attempt to make a go of it at its present location. What sense does it make to vacate a building that you've just spent $1.9 million to improve without first attempting to make it a going operation?It is one of the best equipped community theatre facilities in the country. Its features cannot be duplicated, even on donated land, for less than $12 million.Unlike a Rite-Aid or a Mr. Paul's, the Playhouse is not a neighborhood business. It is an attraction. As such, if its offerings are quality and, if its supporters are made to be proud of it and loyal to it again, the Playhouse could have survived and thrived in its present location.That was my mission.If it became the attraction it once was, large audiences would be drawn. Look around the country. Some of the healthiest theatre operations are located in some of their city's worst areas. Yet, audiences are "attracted" to them -- and in large numbers.If the Playhouse would have offered its community more and better productions, it could have been a catalyst for the improvement of its area of Youngstown's South Side. Need I remind you of the revitalizing effect the Youngstown Symphony has had on downtown?Bentley LenhoffTo the Editor:Thank you for your attention in your editorial to the matters surrounding the Youngstown Playhouse and its present predicament. We feel it necessary to bring to your attention the following pieces of information. First, Bentley Lenhoff wanted a large-scale artistic community to be localized in the downtown area in 1990. The Youngstown Playhouse wanted to remain where it is. The Oakland had not yet taken residence in the Elks, and the Broadway Series hadn't taken root at Powers Auditorium. Several advisors and monies were secured to have this project sprout wings. Of late, Arnold Clebone heads up a South Side Revitalization Program, again with advisors and monies to begin a trek up Glenwood Avenue to 'clean house' insofar as holding property owners responsible for white elephants. In addition, the tearing down and/or removal/renovation of eyesores and neglected buildings is in the works. It is the opinion of many who have left this area and returned that the area "looks better now than it has in years" and "It has bottomed out--it can only go up". Years ago, when the Board of Directors of Rodef Sholom Temple on Elm Street wanted to move the organization to Liberty, then Rabbi Sidney Berkowitz stated, "You don't move a shrine". Well, you don't. Speaking from experience, we have seen proof within the last decade that if you offer a quality product, people will buy. Thank you for your attention and time. The SOS Committee "