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In Defense of Youngstown Playhouse, War Is Declared"
By George NelsonYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Debate over the future of the Youngstown Playhouse has gone beyond discussion -- it's war, in the words of one foot soldier."It's in dire need of saving. This is war," said Paula Strobel of Youngstown. "People have to rally around our community theater and give it back to the community."The civil war being waged between the Playhouse's current board of directors and the newly formed Save Our Stage committee was formally launched yesterday morning, as half a dozen or so ground troops armed with signs marched with signs and spoke to reporters on Glenwood Avenue, in front of the Playhouse. At the same time, their de facto general, Bentley Lenhoff -- executive director of the Youngstown Playhouse from 1965 to 1985 who had agreed to return to the helm at no pay -- was talking to WKBN-AM host Dan Rivers -- an air offensive to compliment the SOS ground campaign. This afternoon SOS plans to hold a rally on Motor Inn Drive in Liberty to rally support for the campaign and generate more news coverage.Lenhoff had agreed to return to the Playhouse as executive director but changed him mind when Playhouse board members balked at his conditions, including expanding the board's composition. He also wanted authority to select plays and workshops and to organize promotional efforts without board approval.Yesteday, as pickets paraded for TV cameras, SOS spokesman John Ballantyne of Austintown, read the group's prescription for saving the financially challenged community theater. Chief among its demands are the installation of Lenhoff as executive director and the resignations of the current board members. In the statement, SOS members called on the business community to withhold donations and contributions, and to refrain from advertising in Playhouse programs. The group also asked the public to delay purchasing season or individual show tickets; and requested that the creative community -- including actors, directors and others playing supporting roles in putting on shows -- to refrain from participating in forthcoming productions. The statement also was posted on the its Web site, www.saveourstage.com.Ballantyne, a former artistic director at the Playhouse who also has acted in and directed many of its productions, said he and the others were out on the raining Monday morning "to call attention to the fact that we need to get Bentley Lenhoff back into the Playhouse like the board originally agreed that he would do -- before they reneged on that agreement last Monday. Now we're back in the same situation with the Playhouse that we were in before Bentley came. We need to have him back to save this place."Papers disclosed by Lenhoff showed the Playhouse owes $183,000 to a wide range of creditors, including $82,000 to contractor A.P. O'Horo Co. of Liberty. Several thousands of dollars also were owed to past employees, including its last executive director, Robert Vargo, who remains unavailable for comment. "We have a board now that is not a good management board and they have not handled funds very well, where Bentley is both of those rolled into one," Ballantyne said. "He's a great manager, he was here for 20 years, and some of the most successful years that this Playhouse has had was when he was here." Ballantyne said backers are ready to provide financial support to the community theater if Lenhoff returns.Ballantyne agrees with Lenhoff's suggestion that the Playhouse's current location is not a factor in the community theater's financial condition. "It's certainly not a bad neighborhood," he said. "There's bad neighborhoods everywhere and usually theaters are in neighborhoods that aren't the best but there's nothing wrong with Glenwood Avenue." Strobel, one of the pickets, has been involved with the Playhouse for several years as a performer and working behind the scenes. "It's obvious that this board does not have the best interest of the Playhouse at heart," she said. "They're not going in the right direction and it's time to say let's right the sinking ship because it's sinking fast." In particular, she said the board has "misused and mismanaged" funds, and have resisted allowing managing directors to select a season and choose directors. She also said the board has "no concept at all" of how to treat volunteers."I come here on my own time to volunteer my time to build scenery and to perform in shows etc., as well as many other people, and they just turn their nose away like we're not important," said Strobel, a past volunteer-of-the-year honoree. "That's not fair and it has to stop. We need a direction that's going to get us money, get us back on the stage and get us up and running like we were, as I want to say it, when Bentley ran us the first time. You can't argue with success."Molly Galano, formerly from Wyoming, said she had an unpleasant experience watching another theater "slowly die back where I come from" and doesn't want to see it happen here. Galano, who has acted in several productions, noted that when she heard the legendary John Houseman speak 20 years ago on the future of American theater he specifically mentioned the Youngstown Playhouse. When she told friends she was moving to Youngstown five years ago, she recalled, they pointed out that the Youngstown Playhouse was here. "I want kids and adults and audiences and all the people involved to continue enjoying this place in the way it should be enjoyed, which is lots of big shows," Galano said. "I'm just a dumb actor. I show up and I do my work, but to have everybody at each other's throats all the time is not a good way for anything operate, and I've felt that more and more this past year. If you have someone offering to help you and who knows how to bring a theater back, for goodness sakes you should accept that help."Playhouse board president John Maluso of Youngstown said the board has a plan to get the Playhouse back on its feet. The new season is being put together and the board is working on ticket sales and plans to raise funds, he told The Vindicator, indicating the board will reveal its plans in the near future.When reached by The Business Journal, Maluso declined additional comment and instead referred a reporter to the daily newspaper's account that appeared Sunday. Contact George Nelson at [email protected]"