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Playhouse Prognosis: Out of Critical Condition
"By George NelsonYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Bentley Lenhoff knows when patrons have enjoyed a play. He checks the floor of the auditorium after the performance and sees how many playbills were left behind. "If there aren't many, they liked it. They'll take the playbill home with them," he says.After performances of the Youngstown Playhouse's production of "Brighton Beach Memoirs," the floor was been pretty clean -- just one indicator of progress for the Youngstown theater that only a few weeks ago was the subject of a battle for control.The Save Our Stage committee, a group of community activists, clashed with the board of directors at the time and sought the return of Lenhoff -- who guided the Playhouse during its heyday from 1965 to 1985 -- as artistic director.Although the Playhouse has made more progress than he expected since his return, Lenhoff admits it's not as much as he would like. "When I was a young man I was impatient. Now that I'm up in years, I'm even more impatient," he says. "We're moving back but we're not moving as quickly as I would like, and the road back is a long road back."This summer, the Youngstown Playhouse was "all but declared dead." he remarks. Now, "the patient is well out of intensive care." Sales of season tickets are the highest since the 1991-'92 season -- more than 1,400, up 500% from last season.In addition, since August the theater has made substantial progress in paying down the $200,000 in overdue bills Lenhoff inherited. Today the Playhouse's debt is just above $100,000 -- $71,000 of which is owed to a single creditor, the A.P. O'Horo Co. -- "and we'll get around to talking care of that either in the next few months or before the end of the season, which is June," he says. A community support campaign launched a few months ago has raised close to $60,000 -- the goal is $204,000 -- and Lenhoff plans to make his case for contributions to representatives of area foundations and trusts. These bodies meet at the end of the calendar year to consider funding requests.This week, he issued invitations to trustees of most of them to attend a "stockholders meeting" Dec. 1 when he will outline the Playhouse's progress and answer questions. "I'm calling them stockholders because in the past they've been very generous in their support of the Playhouse," he says, "and I'm looking for that same generosity in the future."Of former major contributors, Lenhoff observes: "When they were buying a pig in a poke, they didn't know it." Now they do and hence, he continues, "They're sitting on their hands and wallets. They're waiting to see if our opening show was a fluke. And maybe they're justified." Regardless, he will urge those donors to attend upcoming productions and see for themselves. "One show is not a fluke," he declares. "Where the hell else do you pay off close to 50% of your debt and pay it off in 86 days?" Much Playhouse debt was retired simply by running "very lean and very mean," the artistic director says. Payroll represents only 20% to 25% of this season's budget of $280,000. Payroll usually constitutes the bulk of any organization's budget, and payroll for a theater typically runs from 80% to more than 90%.Eight who work for the Playhouse do so as independent contractors, who Lenhoff estimates make less than $2.50 an hour based on the time they put in. Lenhoff and his wife -- as well as his daughter, who occasionally helps out -- are all working without pay. Why are so many working for so little compensation to revitalize the Playhouse? For that matter, why is the retired Lenhoff, at age 74, back?For most, it's the same answer, he said. "We believe too much in this place to see it die," he responds. "We all want to see it thrive and come alive as it once did, and it's working." Some on staff may want to be part of the Playhouse's future management and Lenhoff, who says he hasn't committed beyond this season, says he has tried to involve them in every decision made. "They will have earned it and they will have learned it," he offers. Lenhoff is pleased, he says, with the slate of shows and directors the remainder of the season. Following the December production of "A Christmas Story," not part of the season schedule, Playhouse veteran Kathy Appugliese will direct "Breaking Legs." "Legs" is "about a Mafia family that runs a restaurant." Lenhoff pauses. "Sort of a 'Sopranos' comes to Youngstown. It should have a lot of local appeal."Other productions are "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," directed by David Jendre, "Moon Over Buffalo" and "Smokey Joe's Café." Audiences will come to the Playhouse regardless of perceptions about the South Side, where it is located, and the blighted Glenwood Avenue corridor, Lenhoff says. The crime is no worse in the Playhouse neighborhood than the Southern Park Mall, he contends."We're not a grocery store. We're not a neighborhood business," he says. "It's an attraction. If you look around the country, some of the best theaters, dance companies and musical troupes are located in ghettos."Contact George Nelson at [email protected]"