Youngstown Playhouse receives $16K donation

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Playhouse received a major gift this week that will help fund the restoration of the theater building.

The Crandall Memorial Foundation presented the Playhouse board with a check for $16,280 that will be used to insulate its cement exterior walls.

The insulation will substantially lower the theater’s heating bills, said Mary Ruth Lynn, executive director of the Playhouse.

The Playhouse building opened in 1959 and has long been plagued with high utility bills. “The upfront expense will pay for itself several times over,” Lynn said.

The Crandall gift is the second major donation the Playhouse building has received in recent months. In late June, the Youngstown Foundation gave the theater $20,000, which funded a partial roof replacement.

“We are so excited that another community foundation has come forward to invest in our future,” Lynn added.