Youngstown takes center stage in play

Youngstown is like a character in the play.

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

vindicator entertainment writer

Rob Zellers still vividly remembers the people, places and moments that colored his childhood in Youngstown.

The older woman who sold tickets at the Park Burlesque. The orphanage that his mother would threaten to send him to if he didn’t behave. The gas station where his father played cards with his friends.

That gas station was on Front Street, downtown, at the corner of either Champion or Walnut — Zellers isn’t sure. But he will never forget what went on inside that concrete and white tile structure.

And it serves as the setting and source of inspiration for his new play, “Harry’s Friendly Service.”

Set in 1977 in Youngstown, “Harry’s” will get its world premiere next month by the Pittsburgh Public Theater. The city of Youngstown — as it was in that era — plays a key role. Although Zellers grew up in the ’60s, he changed the date to the late ’70s because he wanted to use the economic turmoil of that era.

It was an ominous time. Idora Park was still open and everyone played the mob-run numbers game known as “the bug.” But the mills were beginning to close and steel workers were on strike.

“There is a heavy, burdensome world outside, but inside Harry’s they were still joking,” said Zellers. “It might have been black humor, but still joking.”

He said his play — which won an Edgerton Foundation 2008 New American Plays award — pays tribute to Youngstown and its people, who stood tough in the face of declining fortunes.

Zellers, a Boardman High graduate, is the education director of the PPT and a playwright who co-wrote “The Chief,” the wildly popular (in Pittsburgh, at least) story of Steelers founder Art Rooney.

As a boy, Zellers would tag along with his father as he and his cronies shot the breeze on Saturdays at Harry’s. “They thought I wasn’t listening, that I was bored, but I was listening,” said Zellers, who noted: “I am either blessed or plagued by being able to recall memories of every little detail in my life.”

His play revolves around the gruff owner of the “friendly” service station. Harry was once married, but that was years ago. He has since become a bit of a wild man, working as a part-time bookie and filling his nights with drink and women. He is forced to come to terms with himself and his past when his long-estranged daughter walks back into his life.

Although Youngstown flavors the story, as Zellers points, “Harry’s” is really a play about family.

“I always liked stories about family,” he said. “And it doesn’t have to be the traditional family. Family could be two guys who could be like brothers because they are so close — or maybe old friends who play cards. There are many permutations. But family ... that’s American drama.”

It took three years for Zellers to bring “Harry’s” to fruition.

As a playwright and wordsmith, he settles for nothing less than complete accuracy, and his perfectionism is evident in conversation. During an interview with The Vindicator, he often paused and searched the heavens — or his heart — for the exact word or phrase to describe a nuance of a character or a scene. He would visibly strain to capture an emotion he was trying to convey ... and wouldn’t move on until he’d gotten it just right.

The characters and setting came easy to him, he said, but it took him a while to nail down the plot. “I’m good at characters, and authentic dialog,” he said. “I can make you say, ‘I know that guy.’ But my weakness is plot.”

To research the play, he revisited physically and in memory the institutions of his childhood — Idora Park and the Boulevard Tavern, to name a few — and mixed it with what he calls “the lore.”

“I had to capture the spirit and the language,” he said. “The toughness, the blue-collar, the refusal to go away.”

Youngstown-isms also made their way into the script. “I used phrases like ‘lookit here.’ The director said ‘what?” but I said, ‘That’s how we said it.’”

The play also has lots of Youngstown references from the era, including The Elmton (which is still in business in Struthers), Lazer’s Grocery and Alice Taylor’s pool room.

THE PLAYWRIGHT

Rob Zellers grew up on Maple Drive in Boardman, just over the city limits from Youngstown, near Bancroft Park. After graduating from Boardman High School, the now 50-something Zellers attended Heidelberg College and Bowling Green State University.

He worked as a teacher for a few years, then decided to shift careers to theater. Toward that end, he applied at the Pittsburgh Public Theater and has been there for 21 years. He currently is the theater’s education and outreach director.

Zellers has written four other plays: “Safekeeping,” “The Kitchen,” “The Red Cat” and “The Chief.”

He has never taken a writing class and has never been an actor.

By far, his biggest success has been “The Chief,” which is the story of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr. He co-wrote the play with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports columnist Gene Collier. “The Chief,” now in its seventh year, is performed annually to packed houses. Steelers fans have claimed it as their own. They show up dressed in black and gold gear and loudly cheer at certain moments. Some even hold tailgate parties before going in. “We get people who have never been in a theater before,” said Zellers. “The Chief” will next be staged in early January at the O’Reilly Theater in Pittsburgh.

Married with one child, Zellers and his family live in the North Hills of Pittsburgh.

Although he stopped short of calling it “cathartic,” Zellers said “writing ‘Harry’s’ did something for me. My dad died when I was young, and it left a hole in me. The play is a tribute to him and his friends and his generation.” One character, he said, is inspired by his father.

What’s next: Zellers isn’t looking too far into the future, but would like to take the play on the road and see it presented in cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Youngstown.