DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Easy Street always leads back to Youngstown

"Easy Street, where you sleep till noon ..."
"Easy Street, Easy Street, where the rich folks play ..."
"Yessiree. Easy Street, Easy Street, that's where we're gonna be. ..."
Who would have thought Easy Street would turn out to be Mahoning Avenue?
Maureen Collins, for one.
Along with her longtime friend, roommate and partner, Todd Hancock, she's done surprisingly well as part of Easy Street Productions, selling an off-off-off Broadway audience on musical theater and performance lessons right here in Youngstown. What they lack in fortune, they've certainly made up for in longevity and local fame.
"I started doing theater in seventh grade," Collins said, sitting at a table in Easy Street Productions' Mahoning Avenue building. The room is large, with high ceilings; black; and adorned with theatrical art, including a picture of Dolly Parton and a "Les Miserables" poster and sporting a Goliath-size couch.
Sang in clubs: By the time high school was over, she had added singing in clubs to her performance regimen. As part of "Woodwork," a three-piece acoustic band, Collins sang Janis Joplin songs, easy rock and "lots of original" material.
"I loved that arena," Collins said. "Then it got to be too much -- playing five or six days a week. People are smoking, talking and drinking while we performed. The band was real clean-cut, but the crowds were all rowdy."
Still, Collins imagined she would be the next Joplin. "I was still doing theater on the side, though," she said. In 1981, she was cast in "Annie" as Mrs. Hannigan, the inebriated orphanage matron, while Hancock played Rooster, her ne'er-do-well brother.
"People liked our duet 'Easy Street' so much we got gigs singing it around town," Collins said. Some years later, the song would become the name of their production company. It launched their friendship and partnership.
Acting aspirations: In 1984, the year the summer Olympics were in Los Angeles, the two struck out for the City of Angels, hoping to succeed as actors. "I had a friend with a place to stay, and Todd had a van," Collins said.
"It was awesome in LA," she said. "Todd got lots of small parts, soap operas and things. I wasn't doing so well, but I loved the excitement. There were a lot more opportunities there in our business, and I got a kick out of people saying things like, 'your aura.'"
But it was expensive. With one car between them, Collins often went to auditions on buses. Long nontheater work hours were required to support her and her acting career.
"We came back in 1988 and thought there were more opportunities in Youngstown than there had been before," Collins said, pointing out that the Oakland Center for Performing Arts had a space for rent. They came back, and Easy Street Productions was launched.
She said, "We started with '429 Miles Off Broadway' with six of us and ran for four weeks, packing this space," which meant 99 seats filled.
A segment of that show, "Pump Boys and Dinettes," led to their next show. Now, they're in their 13th year, depending on Hancock's "marketing expertise" and Collins' wisdom: "If you have a clean bathroom, women will come back."
Along the way, Collins added children's workshops and music lessons, first in various locations around town, and now in their Mahoning Avenue space. She teaches voice and guitar and has five-week performance workshops that draw 30 children in two age groups: 4 to 8 and 8 to preteen.
Lasting friendship: "Our friendship has lasted longer than most marriages," Collins said of Hancock and herself. And she's happy about their success as well.
But "Do I tear up watching a Broadway show? Sure," she said. "Do we both think we might have gotten the Tony? Maybe. But if something big comes ... well, I think I'll know."
Don't worry about losing their talent, though. They've made a pact. "We will always come back here to do a Christmas show," she said.
murphy@vindy.com