WARREN — The Oakland Center for the Arts and its Kids First Theatre Initiative is moving from Boardman to Warren after receiving more than $63,500 in American Rescue Plan money from city council.

“Warren has a beautiful theatrical history going back to the Kenley Players,” Brendan Byers, president and executive director of the theater program, said. “As I started to ask questions and talk to people in the city, they’re so excited we’re coming to Warren. It’s kind of gratifying.”

Byers credited Steve Duran, vice president of the Kenmore Neighborhood Association, for working to bring the Oakland to Warren and attract financial support from council.

“I knew Brendan through a friend of a friend,” Duran said. “I went to a couple of shows over there at Trinity (Fellowship Church in Boardman) and was pretty impressed with the kids. I was never interested in theater and had never been to children’s theater and, wow, those kids performing were something else. We were given the opportunity to get some of the ARPA funds for the neighborhood association, and I asked Brendan, ‘What would you think about bringing that to Warren?'”

The Oakland Center for the Arts was founded by Alexandra Vansuch in 1986 and was based at various locations in the Mahoning Valley during its history. The theater had a reputation for tackling adventurous programming, while also staging crowd-pleasing productions like the interactive show “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding” and operating Magic Carpet Theatre, a touring company that did children’s shows.

Byers served as operations manager of the Oakland for about three years in the 1990s and was managing director of Magic Carpet Theatre.

After the Oakland vacated downtown Youngstown’s Morley Arts Building — its home from 1999 until 2015 — due to financial problems, Byers was part of a group that acquired the Oakland’s name from its old board in 2016.

During Byers’ tenure as director, the theater has focused on programming for children and primarily featuring young performers, staging productions of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” “A Christmas Story,” “The Hobbit,” “The Descendants” and others. The Oakland also started an Au-Stars Program that works with children on the autism spectrum.

Councilman Ken MacPherson, D-at Large, said he directed some of his rescue plan funds to the project because he thought the theater had the potential to make a long-lasting impact on the community.

“What we should be doing with these funds are programs that launch us forward,” he said. “Twenty years from now, will it have left an indelible mark for posterity? We have a program with a proven track record of doing professional-quality, student-led theater productions, and it’s a rare opportunity to move a gem of a flower from Youngstown to Warren and have students in Warren benefit from such a highly rated — and not funded with taxes at all — program for the kids.”

Duran said, “I hope we get kids out to learn and bring some entertainment value to Warren.”

Exactly where the theater will be located hasn’t been determined yet. Byers praised Trinity Fellowship Church, where it staged most of its productions, but he said there were logistical challenges in that nontraditional performance space. Among them was having to design sets that could be removed after a Saturday evening show for church service on Sunday morning and then reassembled in time for a Sunday matinee.

Different locations in the city currently are under consideration, Byers said.

“I think we’ve already found a place to store our costumes,” he said. “I’m hoping to be out of the church in November and probably announce a season in November and lock down a location and start moving forward.”

Byers drew children from Trumbull County to audition for shows when it was based in Boardman. He said he expects more children from Warren and Trumbull County to participate now, and he believes many of those from Mahoning County will remain involved.

agray@tribtoday.com