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Lenhoff Returns to Youngstown Playhouse in Starring Role
By Dan O'BrienYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The man largely responsible for turning the Youngstown Playhouse into one of the most revered community theaters in the country is playing the lead role once again.Bentley Lenhoff, director of the Youngstown Playhouse from 1965 to 1985, said he will return to Youngstown and his old job -- and work without pay -- until the struggling facility gets back on its feet.When he left nearly 20 years ago, Lenhoff said the playhouse boasted 6,500 ticket members and was one of the largest community theaters in the United States. Today, that number stands at 300. "It's gone downhill," he said. Lenhoff said he doesn't know why the playhouse has found hard times, but he refuses to believe perceptions that the theater's location on Glenwood Avenue on the Youngstown's south side is the reason for its decline. "The neighborhood hasn't changed since 1965," he said.Furthermore, Lenhoff said he was in charge of the playhouse during the steel shutdowns of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the theater still thrived. "I just don't accept that argument," he said, referring to the economic reversals suffered by the Mahoning Valley in the wake of industry retrenchments. Faced with the prospect of shutting the Playhouse down, members of the theater's board of directors contacted Lenhoff at his home in Michigan and asked if he would consider coming back to help rescue the historic theater. "It's an important part of the community, so I said I would give it a several month trial," he said.Lenhoff, age 74, agreed to tackle the job upon several conditions. First, that the board increase it members from eight to about 30. Second, that the organization would spearhead a fund-raising campaign to support the facility, and third, that the board launch an enthusiastic ticket campaign to build membership. "We've got to get it from 300 to about 1,500 members," he said.Lynn Kirkwood, who served on the playhouse board of directors for six years, said she will be returning to the board to help implement Lenhoff's revival plans. "Bentley is exactly what we need at this point," Kirkwood told The Business Journal. "When he was at the helm we had the best years we ever had. He is artistic, creative and he's a businessman -- and that combination is hard to find."Kirkwood said other playhouse "oldtimers, people who have been with the playhouse for years, also are excited and they're coming back to help Bentley do everything he wants to do."Lenhoff said he's already seeing tremendous support for the playhouse within the community and he expects that support to grow. "I'm very pleased at the response. There are those who feel that the playhouse belongs to the people of Youngstown. It's probably the best endowed community theater in the country," he noted. "It would be a shame to see the doors closed."More than $2 million worth of renovations were completed two years ago, funded by a federal grant obtained by former playhouse manager Robert Vargo.Vargo, an unpaid aide to former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., pursued a plan to add performances at a downtown venue he hoped to build, but the project never was completed.Although Lenhoff has known about the Playhouse's financial problems for some time, he was reluctant to get involved because "no one ever asked me."Now that he's agreed to return, Lenhoff wants to direct a community fund-raising effort called "Save Our Stage," or S.O.S., in which Mahoning Valley residents and businesses could contribute financial donations to help the theater. To kick off the fund-raising campaign, a Youngstown Playhouse reunion and picnic is scheduled for Aug. 15.More importantly, Lenhoff said he wants to bring top-notch shows and performances back to the playhouse. "We're looking at new titles -- musicals, comedies, drama and a children's theater series," he said.Lenhoff said he'll also be working hard to recruit area talent and ask alumni from the Playhouse to return to their roots and perform or direct. The Youngstown Playhouse helped launch the careers of many actors and directors from`the Youngstown area, including Ed O'Neil, of Married with Children and Dragnet fame; Marc Rauth, co producer of the smash Broadway version of Mel Brooks' The Producers; the late Elizabeth Hartman, who was nominated for an academy award for her performance in 1965's A Patch of Blue, and the late Joe Flynn, a television and film character actor best know for his role as Captain Binghamton on the 1960s sitcom McHale's Navy.Contact Dan O'Brien at [email protected]"