Artists paint themselves into the downtown picture

It was a few years ago when artist Jim Pernotto first came up with the idea of opening a center for contemporary art in downtown Youngstown.

The idea finally will move beyond the idea phase Saturday when Pernotto hosts a fundraiser for the center, which will be dubbed Next Best Art. Saturday’s event will include an art auction, wine, chocolates from Tropea Fine Pastry, food by Chrystal Catering and music by jazz artist Teddy Pantelas. It will be in Pernotto’s downtown studio, above Silver’s Vogue Shop, corner of West Federal and Phelps streets, from 6 to 10 p.m. Admission is $20. Enter at the red door at 27 W. Federal St., under the “S” in the Silver’s sign.

With downtown turning into an arts and entertainment district, Pernotto — who ran an art gallery in New York from 1998 to 2004 — wants to make sure visual art is represented.

His first goal is to transform the 25-foot-long display window on the Phelps Street side of Silver’s into a street-level art gallery. The project will include glass that will protect the art from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Pernotto already has permission to use the Silver’s window, and eventually hopes to subdivide the men’s clothing store between the arts center and a downsized Silver’s store. He has had talks with the store’s owner about the idea.

Pernotto sees Next Best Art as a link between the local and global art world. It also would be a place where local artists could meet, learn and do research and develop a voice for new art in the city.

Pernotto is president of the board of Next Best Art, which also includes Tropea, Chrystal, Maple Turner III, Tim Stanley, Jacob Harver, Danny Catullo, Deborah Weaver and John Slanina.

Crown Theater takes step with premiere of ‘Delivery’

Crown Theater Production’s first nonchildren’s play opened last weekend at Main Street Theater in Columbiana.

Titled “The Delivery,” it’s an inspirational Bible-based piece with a strong Christian message. It’s also the first major production by Crown since the company was formed earlier this year to bring new life to the underused Main Street Theater.

“The Delivery” is the brainchild of Carla Sukosd, Jim and Lynette Couchenour, Len Derico and Don Arthurs, who owns the theater. Arthurs refurbished the building a few years ago, restoring it to a level of beauty and functionality that it probably never had when it was new.

“The Delivery” is about a family of four that is struggling emotionally and financially. They are forced to move into an apartment to save money and wind up living next to a grumpy old man with whom they — unknowingly — share a horrible connection.

The most eye-catching thing about “The Delivery” is the crisply finished and highly inventive set. At first, it’s a street scene of a boxy red-brick apartment complex. It’s drab architectural style places it squarely on the wrong side of the tracks. An older wood-frame house sits next to it. The upper level of the stage is the second floor, where two busy-bodies lean out their windows and chatter.

Both the ground floor and the second floor unfold into interior rooms revealing the living room and a bedroom of the family’s apartment, and it is impressive.

Unfortunately, the flip side is that the frequent set changes take a long time, which interrupts the flow of the story. The dark-stage segments are filled with recorded mood music created by local composer Andrew Lawlor.

The scenes are short — they are more about audience instruction than character development — and a narrator intermittently pauses the action to drive home the message.

The first act moves slowly, but the pace and the intensity pick up in the second to deliver a surprising lesson about getting through tough times.

“The Delivery” will continue at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 at the door.