By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Jul 28, 2010
Actors' Summit theater will come full-circle by October, setting up permanent residence at the city-owned Greystone Hall in Akron after having launched the company's first four productions there more than 11 years ago.
Neil Thackaberry and MaryJo Alexander, spouses as well as theater co-artistic directors, said a deal was struck July 19 to lease the downtown building's theater space through the Akron/Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau, which operates the building for the city. Details will be announced at a news conference today.
The stone-facade building, formerly the Masonic Temple, was built by the Freemasons in 1917 with a two-story theater.
Actors' Summit will primarily inhabit the sixth floor, which includes the original proscenium stage. The company also will periodically use the balcony space and will have storage space on the fifth floor, for a total of about 12,000 square feet.
''It's a gorgeous space, and it's going to be a huge step up for us from this leaking, rusting warehouse,'' Thackaberry said.
Actors' Summit, a small, professional Equity theater, had been housed in an adapted warehouse in Hudson for nine years, where it held more than 1,000 performances ranging from Shakespearean comedies to small musicals and intimate Broadway dramas. Thackaberry said a rent hike prohibited it from continuing to operate in Hudson.
The Greystone theater has an elaborate fly space for scenery above its proscenium stage but the company won't be using the original stage. Actors' Summit will build out a three-quarter thrust stage from the front of the original stage, continuing the configuration it had at its Hudson location as well as others.
The new Akron location will seat 150 on three sides of the stage, just as the Hudson stage did. Additional seating might be added as needed in Greystone's three-sided balcony.
Thackaberry said the new space also has superb acoustics.
''It's going to be a real challenge for us to improve production values and the quality of our work so it looks like it belongs in that beautiful space,'' he said.
Actors' Summit, whose original plan was to be a small, urban, city-center theater, tried to establish permanent residence in downtown Akron years ago.
In the fall of 1999, the theater was forced to drop building plans at Canal Place due to a lack of funds to renovate the HVAC system, as required by city code. After that, the theater bounced around Akron and Hudson before landing at the warehouse on Owen Brown Street in Hudson.
Actors' Summit will open its first show at Greystone on Oct. 14. The six-show season will be announced later.
Thackaberry said Akron Deputy Mayor David Lieberth suggested talking to Susan Hamo at the Akron/Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau when the theater was searching for a new home this year. He said Akron's offer was the best of several the theater investigated in Hudson, Cuyahoga Falls and Solon.
''They view us as a terrific drawing card,'' Thackaberry said of the convention bureau. ''The fact that we're there is going to help them sell Akron.''
Lieberth reserved comment until today's news conference.
Thackaberry said the bureau will promote the theater in its convention-planning packets, and the organizations plan to work together to bring in bus groups.
The convention bureau also will run dining and bar operations during Actors' Summit's performances. Theater packages will be sold with options for dinner and a show. Actors' Summit won't be doing large-scale musicals, but hopes to draw former Carousel Dinner Theatre subscribers to this ''one-stop option.''
The theater company will begin its move downtown Thursday. Early plans include moving seats from the upper balcony to the floor and setting up temporary lighting trees at the balcony level as a precursor to building a self-supporting lighting grid.
Thackaberry said downtown Akron has a first-rate art museum and symphony, but until now, it didn't have a full-time professional theater.
''It's where we always wanted to be. We will be part of a cultural corridor in downtown Akron. We view our presence as being another asset for the cultural life of the community,'' he said.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
