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Playhouse puts on a dark journey into addiction

YOUNGSTOWN — Don’t let the line that most of Emma’s acting gigs have been in plays staged above pubs fool you. She is a great actor. Her award-worthy performances for even smaller audiences include a daughter trying to convince her parents one more time that she will not betray their trust and a rehab patient repentant about her addictive behavior and determined to make a change. Brandy Johanntges, who plays Emma in Youngstown Playhouse’s production of Duncan Macmillan’s “People, Places & Things,” is great as well. Emma is one of those characters that performers ...

Playhouse presents ‘People, Places & Things’

Director Christopher Fidram doesn’t believe someone needs to have gone through rehab to relate to the characters in Duncan Macmillan’s “People, Places & Things.” Macmillan’s acclaimed play, which opens Friday for a two-weekend run in Youngstown Playhouse’s Moyer Room, tells the story of an actor who checks into a rehab facility after a mishap at work. “Emma is very intelligent, very clever, and she knows, ‘Oh, I just have to go there for the 30 days, tell them what they want to hear, and then I'll get my certificate and go on,’” Fidram said. “But once she gets ...

Area theaters announce their plans for 2025-26

The theater program at Kent State University at Trumbull turns 60. The Youngstown Playhouse opens its new performance space at the old performance space of the Oakland Center for the Arts, and Rust Belt Theater Company continues its search for a new space for its original productions. There are two different stage adaptations of Jane Austen novels, the fourth and fifth area productions of “Little Shop of Horrors” since the COVID-19 pandemic, some stage classics and several regional premieres. Those are just a few of the things theatergoers can look forward to in the coming ...

Gray Areas: ‘War’ takes to the road

There are perks that come with playing house concerts. “They were some of the smallest shows we've ever played in our lives, but they felt like some of the biggest shows we'd ever played in our lives,” Tim Quirk said about last summer’s Wonderlick tour, which included a show at a house in Youngstown. “They felt more impactful, just the connection felt deeper between us and the songs and us and the crowd and the crowd and the songs. It was just all these connections, and it felt huge.” That Youngstown show was fun. I have more vivid and enjoyable memories of that performance ...

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Blues, Brews & BBQ coming Shemeika Copeland will headline the inaugural Blues, Brews & BBQ Festival, presented by 7 17 Credit Union at the Warren Community Amphitheatre on Oct. 4. Also performing will be “King” Solomon Hicks, Damian Knapp, Cleveland’s Backstreet Blues Band, Sacksville Rhythm & Blues Band, Jazz in the Park Allstars, Norman Nardini, Aaron McCoy and Friends, and Warren Community Gospel Choir. The event will feature BBQ vendors from Northeast Ohio competing for top honors and a curated selection of drinks, including beers and bourbons. Tickets are $10 and ...

Mahoning Valley arts and entertainment

Art ARTS & EDUCATION AT THE HOYT, 124 E. Leasure Ave., New Castle, Pa.: “Carnival Nights: Photography by Andrew Hoff,” “Goldberg Variations: Collages by John Lyon Paul” and "Subterranean: Photography by Prescott Moore Lassman,” all through Sept. 11. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. hoytartcenter.org and 724-652-2882. BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown: “Touched by Rauschenberg: The Art of Eric Forstmann, Don Gummer, Diana Levinson and Robert Rauschenberg,” through Aug. 24; Autumn Joi ...