Saturday, December 12, 2015
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Easy Street Productions will expand its presence in the DeYor Performing Arts Center – where it stages most of its shows – by moving its youth theater classes to the second floor of the building in late January.
Easy Street also will launch a cabaret series in the DeYor’s Overture Restaurant and its adjoining Flad Pavilion in February.
The musical theater company’s home is at 865 Mahoning Ave., just east of downtown, where it has been since 1999. It has long offered theater classes there and began the cabaret series there a couple of years ago.
The Mahoning Avenue space now will be used just for rehearsals, storage of scenery and for construction of stage props.
Easy Street has long used the theaters at the DeYor – Powers Auditorium and the Ford Family Recital Hall – for its theater productions and will continue to do so. Up next is the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which will be presented at Powers on May 6-8 (Mother’s Day weekend).
The second-floor class space that Easy Street will occupy was once the home of Students Motivated by the Arts (SMARTS) but has been vacant for at least a year. The new space offers several benefits for both Easy Street students and actors.
“There are many different-sized studios for classes and rehearsals there,” said Todd Hancock, who co-founded Easy Street with Maureen Collins. “We’ll also have greater access to the beautiful Ford recital hall for shows, and Overture Restaurant and lobby will be perfect for our intimate cabaret nights, with table seating and full bar complete with hors d’oeuvres provided by Chef Jeff Chrystal. Also, the DeYor box office staff and Internet ticket-sales capability is much more convenient for our patrons.”
The first cabaret show at the DeYor will be “Easy Street Goes Hollywood,” Feb. 26-27.
Hancock pointed out that Easy Street’s popular Little Rascals theater classes have hit their capacity at the old location. “We are bursting at the seams,” he said.
Patricia Syak, president of the Youngstown Symphony Society, which owns and operates the DeYor, welcomed Easy Street’s increased presence in the downtown theater complex.
“The Youngstown Symphony has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Easy Street Productions and looks forward to this next chapter, bringing young people to our educational facility and more entertainment options for our community,” Syak said.
The second-floor space at DeYor is a mix of old and new.
“It has the cool 1920s architecture and the completely renovated feel of a New York City artist’s loft,” Hancock said. “It is our hope to turn it into a busy performance academy full of students and instructors from all areas of the arts – voice, acting, dancing, music and art.”