A place to showcase local talent
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STEUBENVILLE -- Three friends who share a passion for performing and a vision for showcasing local talent have teamed up to purchase the former Gospel Hall on Park Street.
The trio -- Reuben Slife, Greg Demary and Marc Barnes -- founded the nonprofit Steubenville Theater and Arts to give local theater performers a permanent home where they can rehearse, store costumes and perform on occasion.
"We've been doing plays in the area for years -- I think the first one was in 2016, so it's probably about eight or nine years now," Demary said. "The response has been huge. Everyone enjoys being part of the productions and attending them. This is a huge step forward for us and we're hoping that the community will respond."
Gospel Hall wasn't the first building they looked at, but it was the last.
"It was a good fit for what we want to do with it," Slife said. "It has the sort of backstage areas and pass-throughs, entrances and exits (we need.) And it also has a kitchen and dining area, which allows for socializing after plays, as well as for hosting other sorts of events."
Demary said it was the set up of the space that sold them.
"A lot of churches don't have a backstage space," he said. "This one gave us a lot of ideas on how we could stage productions, and there's a full basement underneath that can be used for receptions and events before and after performances. The layout is conducive to performances, it gave us ideas. It's also a really beautiful space, too -- it's not something where we'll have to go in and really transform it. It's all there, it just needs to be updated a little bit before we can get audiences in."
Barnes said it's the logical next step for the troupe, which, under the auspices of the Harmonium Project, presented classics like Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Beatty Park.
"We're all very excited about the Grand Theater progressing and approaching the day when we can put shows on (there) -- musicals, plays, concerts -- but we realized as we did things like First Fridays, we don't want to be caught off guard when the Grand opens," Barnes said.
"It's all well and good to have a theater, but you have to have something you can do in that theater. We wanted a rehearsal and performance space --a place where we can practice, we can do small performances. When towns revitalize, they revitalize through the arts -- through music, through theater, through the restoration of old buildings devoted to the arts. If Steubenville is going to pull this off, we can't do it without actually producing the music and theater that's going to fill the downtown."
Up to now they've had to move from place to place with each product, finding a new performance venue, Demary said.
"We were sort of making different theater spaces work for us for each production," Demary said. "It's just a lot more work than having a home base we can operate out of."
Gospel Hall will give them that, Barnes said -- a space where they can store sets, costumes and event materials "in order not to start from scratch every time we do an event" so they can focus on the creative side of the performing arts.
"It's been needed for a while, we've been looking for a location to start a permanent incubator for Steubenville's music and arts scene," Barnes said. "And when this church went up for sale, it was the first place that really fit our needs."
It does need some work, they said.
"No major renovations, just lots of little things," Demary said. "It's mostly preserving a beautiful space -- some plaster work that needs attention, and we bought a lot across the street as well -- it's the perfect place for a parking lot so we can host events and no one will have to worry about parking down the street and walking."
To help pay for it all they've planned a fundraiser, An Evening of American Music, for 7 p.m. Friday at Froehlich's Classic Corner. Barnes said attendees will be treated to a live "little big band" and music made famous by George Gershwin, Fats Waller, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Al Jolson, and many more.
Tickets are $30 at the door, with children 12 and under admitted free. There will be gift baskets and 50-50 drawings throughout the evening.
Barnes said a "generous donor" will be matching every donation and ticket sold.
"We walked through a lot of buildings that would cost maybe $200,000 to get into shape, and then you can have your first rehearsal," Barnes said. "Those are always such a big fixer-up job. This building, it fits our needs very well, but it was also very well kept."
He said Gospel Hall had only been empty about two years when they happened upon it.
"When we first started the Harmonium Project way back when, I remember doing a piece with (retired Herald-Star reporter) Dave Gossett and talking about the Odd Fellows building on Fourth Street and how we were going to fix it up, make it a big music venue. We didn't know what it took then. Now, we've found a place that does work. It's not meant to be our big performance space, that's what the Grand Theater is for. This is the incubator for the concerts, the theater productions that Steubenville needs."
Barnes said they're taking a chance, "but we're really saying if we're going to revitalize Steubenville, we (have to be) in it for the long haul. It's not going to happen just because we have one or two good events, it's going to happen because we have a strong culture that promotes music, the arts and revitalization."
Slife said community response during the past few years echoes that.
"The response to the plays we've produced earlier ... has been very positive," he said. "Steubenville appreciates the arts and likes seeing the talents and skills of local people. If people have a place to develop their skills, and if there are more events to go to in town, more things to do -- especially with a real attention to quality -- I think our city will be extremely supportive."
Several members of the group "are professional actors, and being able to use our skills in a way that makes our city better means a lot to us," Slife added. "There's a reason we don't live in New York."