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Appugliese will leave Playhouse director post
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Bernie Appugliese will step down in June as operations manager of the Youngstown Playhouse, a post he held for a little more than two years.
He will be moving back to Chicago to pursue opportunities as a playwright. Appugliese will leave the Playhouse after “American Buffalo,” the final play of the 2015-16 season, which runs June 10-18.
The theater’s board of directors will soon begin a search for his replacement.
Appugliese was named interim operations manager of the community theater in January 2014, and the board made his appointment permanent a few months later.
He arrived at the theater amid its rebound from the turmoil that began in 2008, when financial struggles forced it to temporarily close and threatened its existence.
The theater – which marked its 90th anniversary in the fall of 2014 – continued its recovery under Appugliese and is now on firmer footing.
“He was hired in 2014 and we were in rough shape,” said Thomas DeToro, president of the Playhouse’s board of directors. “Bernie has given us an energy and a willingness to work and bring people back, and we really appreciate that. He’s done a heck of a lot to make sure the theater stayed open, and was instrumental in making the 90th season special.”
DeToro said that while financial worries never fully go away at any theater, the Playhouse is moving in the right direction.
“We are paying the bills and saving money and putting out the best community theater that we can,” he said. “We’re trending in the right direction and a lot of that goes to Bernie. Season subscriptions, sponsorships and underwriting all increased.”
Appugliese is a Youngstown native and theater professional who got his start at the Playhouse at age 9. He returned to Youngstown five years ago, putting aside his career as an actor and director in Chicago. He immediately started volunteering at the Playhouse until he was named operations director.
Appugliese credits the Playhouse for giving him the foundation that shaped his career. Because of his love for the theater and his desire to get it back to its former status, Appugliese agreed to work for a fraction of what the previous executive director earned.
“It was never about me getting paid,” he said. “It was about doing what needed to be done.”
Under Appugliese’s watch, the Playhouse’s financial health continued to improve, and its respect as an arts organization was restored to a height that it hadn’t seen in many years.
“We got the Playhouse out of trouble, but it’s never really safe,” he said.
“This is the right time for me to go. My writing career has been taking off.”
Appugliese said he is working with three theaters in Chicago in producing his works, which include “Last Laugh” and “For the Record,” which have already been staged in Youngstown. He also will work as a staff writer at one theater.
“I’ve had a great career as an actor and director, but I knew my last stop would be as a writer,” he said.
Joe Scarvell, a veteran of the Playhouse for six decades, recalled directing a 9-year-old Appugliese in his first show there. Scarvell said he is saddened to see him go.
“He was doing a hell of a good job,” said Scarvell. “He has brought in more money than we had been getting. He is well-rounded in all of the various parts of a theater, and he brought back a camaraderie to the Playhouse, a sense of friendship and family, because of his personality.”