Ex-NH theater troupe chief makes Playhouse entrance

By Guy D’Astolfo

YOUNGSTOWN — Mary Ruth Lynn is the new executive director of the Youngstown Playhouse.

“The more I talked to her, the more I realized she was the right person for the way we’re going now — depending more on volunteers and less on paid staff,” said Rand Becker, president of the Playhouse board of directors.

The board appointed Lynn at its Oct. 19 meeting. She is working as a volunteer herself until Jan. 1, when her position officially goes on the books. Her salary was not disclosed.

She will be the first full-time paid staffer at the Playhouse since John Holt, the previous executive director, left late last year when financial problems forced the theater to cancel its season. Becker and the board have handled day-to-day operations since October and have guided the company onto firmer financial footing.

Since October 2008, the theater’s debt has been shrunk from $200,000 to $30,000 and it has resumed producing plays. The annual budget has been reduced from $320,000 to a more realistic $169,000. The decision to hire a full-time executive director is another large step toward normalcy, Becker said.

Lynn, 62, is a Boardman native who acted at the Playhouse while in high school. She spent the last quarter-century in New Hampshire, where she was a teacher and also the president of the Garrison Players, a theater troupe.

She retired earlier this year and moved to Youngstown with her husband. After restoring her ties with the Playhouse, she wound up directing the first show of the current season — “All Shook Up.”

In the months before she retired, Lynn was following the problems at the Playhouse from afar. She wanted to be a part of its revitalization and sent a letter to the board stating as much.

She later met with Becker and Pat Fagan, the Playhouse Children’s Theater director. It soon became obvious that she was the right person for the executive director post, Becker said.

More hirings are also in the offing. Becker expects to hire four part-timers who also will start on the first of the new year — an assistant executive director, a technical director, an assistant technical director and a custodian.

In her new job, Lynn will oversee all Playhouse operations, including the business and creative sides. But Becker said her first priority will be administration. “She’s good at it,” he said.

As president of the Garrison Players — a volunteer position essentially the same as executive director — Lynn spearheaded a fundraising drive to renovate an old building into the company’s first permanent home.

She first stepped onto a stage in 1964, when, as a high school student, she got a part in a Youngstown Playhouse production.

She has a master’s degree in music from Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music. “I came to the theater through music,” Lynn said.

In addition to “All Shook Up,” Lynn plans to direct “Blithe Spirit” in April. “I might be able to direct two shows a year,” she said, “but I don’t want to stretch myself too thin. If I don’t do what’s needed at the top, there won’t be any plays for anyone to direct.”

In New Hampshire, Lynn’s theater work was strictly voluntary, and that’s how she plans to direct plays at the Playhouse. “I just retired after 34 years of teaching [as a career] and doing theater on a volunteer basis,” she said.

Her goals include replacing the building’s roof and weatherproofing the drafty structure.

“There is also talk of turning the Moyer Room into a small, intimate theater,” she said. “We lost the Arena Theater some years ago [in a renovation project], and we need a space to do smaller and edgier productions.”

Lynn also hopes to improve the Playhouse’s image within the theater community, and in the city.

“We’ve been seen as an insular, cliquish group for many years and not as community partners, and to me, that’s a huge thing to tackle,” Lynn said. “If we are not seen positively and as a part of the community, then when we ask someone to help us they’re not going to be there for us.”

The neighborhood surrounding the Playhouse has been in decline for decades, and Lynn already has gotten involved with several groups to reverse the trend. Plans are being formed with the Idora Neighborhood Association and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Association to revitalize the Glenwood Avenue corridor.

“There are over 100 vacant lots in the corridor, and the idea is to start to reclaim this area,” she said.

Lynn also is working with the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley on a project that will exchange theater tickets for toys and coats for the needy.

dastolfo@vindy.com