YOUNGSTOWN Gift eases theater debt

Renovations should be complete by month's end, the board president noted.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- The same trust fund that helped establish an art academy downtown is also helping Youngstown Playhouse leaders sail out of rough financial waters.
John J. Maluso Sr., president of the Playhouse's board of directors, said Thursday that a $50,000 gift from Abe and Leona M. Adler Charitable Trust is being used to erase some outstanding debts.
"The Youngstown Playhouse is well on its way to financial stability and looks forward to the future with confidence and hope," Maluso said in a statement.
The Playhouse's obligations include former employees who did not receive paychecks earlier this year and members of American Federation of Musicians Local 86-242 who performed in a holiday musical in 2001 but hadn't been fully paid until this week.
The Playhouse has been on the musicians union's unfair list for a year, and members were asked not to perform there. Union president Del Sinchak said that board members must vote on removing the Playhouse from that list and that he believes they will be in favor of such action.
Playhouse leaders "lived up to their end of the agreement. That's all I asked," Sinchak said this morning.
Youngstown Symphony and Youngstown State University also received $200,000 from the Adler Trust for construction of the new $750,000 Adler Art Academy on the second and third floors of Edward W. Powers Auditorium. The academy is home to YSU's Students Motivated by the Arts program.
Specific instructions
Atty. Daniel Roth, trustee of the Adler Trust, said during the academy's ribbon-cutting ceremony last month that Mrs. Adler had left strict instructions on use of her money. She was especially interested in local programs that benefited young people and those who were physically challenged, as she was. Mrs. Adler, who died 11 years ago, also told him to dole out the trust principal after 10 years.
Before that, the Playhouse had received interest income of about $3,000 annually from the Adler Trust, Maluso said.
The Playhouse still carries a debt of about $55,000, but that's down from $350,000 a few years ago, Maluso said in an interview. A large chunk of it, about $140,000, was from an old bank loan for capital improvements and operating expenses. That was significantly reduced in January when Youngstown City Council allocated $60,000 from the Community Development Agency -- half as a grant, the other half a loan to the Playhouse. The money went to First Place Bank, which forgave the other $80,000 owed by the Playhouse.
Maluso believes the Playhouse situation will continue to improve because of a business plan that includes lower prices for single tickets and season subscriptions; reduced payroll through use of volunteers in the box office; naming rights for the Playhouse lounge, parking lot, facade and more; and a playbill of "things people like," Maluso said. The next production, the Agatha Christie mystery "The Mousetrap," opens next Friday.
Maluso also said Playhouse renovations should be completed by month's end. Interior remodeling of restrooms, the kitchen, main lobby and offices are complete, while work continues on installation of a new fa & ccedil;ade. The project was funded with a $1.9 million grant from the federal government's Department of the Interior, as arranged by ex-Congressman James A. Traficant Jr.
shaulis@vindy.com