At 90, Youngstown Playhouse earns thunderous applause from the Mahoning Valley
Like Mill Creek MetroParks, The Butler Institute of American Art and the world-renowned Dana School of Music, The Youngstown Playhouse has long shined as one of the Mahoning Valley’s richest yet grossly undervalued gems.
From its beginnings in a renovated 19th century barn in the 1920s to its maturation into one of the oldest and largest community theaters in the United States, the Playhouse has much to celebrate and even more to appreciate at the start of its 90th anniversary season.
That 2014-15 season has kicked off with an appropriately rousing revival of “A Chorus Line,” the 40-year-old Broadway musical that chronicles the highs and lows of theater life. The Playhouse — from its low-budget beginnings to its heyday of success in the 1960s and 1970s through its struggles for survival in the early 2000s and through its rebound to success today — has survived many ups and downs.
METAPHOR FOR THEATER
Today, as “A Chorus Line” concludes its extended sold-out run, the splashy musical serves as a spot-on metaphor for the South Side community theater’s history and moreover, its unbounded grit and spirit. As Playhouse Manager Bernie Appu- gliese aptly put it, “It’s about the love of performing,” he said. “It’s about what we must sacrifice to perform, to entertain. What we do for love.”
In addition to love, many ingredients — including hard work, dedication, volunteerism, commitment to excellence — have molded the Playhouse into the top-notch center of entertainment for appreciative audiences and the flagship center of learning for aspiring young performing artists in our community.
As it makes its entrance toward a century of talented service to the Mahoning Valley, The Youngstown Playhouse has rightly earned thunderous community applause.