Director won't use 'Arthur' for Aug. awards ceremony

The new awards program will include other community theaters in the future.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A community theater director says there will be an awards program this year to recognize local actors and stagehands, but he won't use an award name that originated at Youngstown Playhouse.
John E. Ballantyne Jr., who owns J & amp;B Production Arts Services, announced earlier this month that his company would produce The Arthur Awards this summer.
Now he and a committee are planning an independent celebration. Marquee Awards will be presented at the first Youngstown Area Community Theatre Awards on Aug. 21 at Saxon Club on Meridian Road.
"We just decided we didn't want to be associated with the Arthurs," Ballantyne said.
Participation
Ballantyne wants to honor people who participated in Youngstown Playhouse shows during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. The Playhouse did not have its annual awards program in 2003.
"They deserve recognition," said Ballantyne, who directed at the Playhouse last season. "The Arthur Awards was a means of thanking people. Even if you didn't win, it was still an opportunity to celebrate the end of a season."
When members of the Playhouse's board of directors learned of Ballantyne's plans, which were published in The Vindicator, they issued their own statement to disassociate the Playhouse with the ceremony.
"John E. Ballantyne Jr. and J & amp;B Production Arts Services have no official or unofficial connection with The Youngstown Playhouse and do not represent The Playhouse in any manner," the statement read. "No announcement concerning this year's Arthur Awards, an exclusive domain and activity of The Youngstown Playhouse, will be forthcoming." The Arthur Awards will return next season, it concluded.
"This has to be board-sanctioned," said John J. Maluso Sr., president of the Playhouse board.
Ballantyne said the awards committee, which was formed in January, consulted an attorney and former Playhouse managing directors about the Arthur Awards. Those talks strengthened their belief that "no one can claim ownership of it," Ballantyne said.
The first Marquee Awards will go to people who were involved in Playhouse shows during the last two years. Ballantyne hopes the awards program will include other community theaters in the future, he said.
Turning it over
J & amp;B Production Arts Services will produce the first event before turning future planning over to a new service organization for all community theaters, Ballantyne said. That group will be an extension of a community theater summit that former Playhouse managing director Robert Vargo began several years ago to encourage exchanges of ideas, information, props and talent among the region's many theater groups.
Ballantyne doubts that he'll direct shows at the Playhouse next season, he said.
The Arthur Awards were named for Arthur Sircom, who was a Playhouse director.
The Arthurs were not planned for this year because the Playhouse is in a restructuring phase, with new members joining the board as a search for a new director continues, Maluso said.