Powers Auditorium
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Powers Auditorium, in Youngstown, Ohio is the largest auditorium in the Youngstown-Warren area, the main venue of downtown Youngstown's DeYor Performing Arts Center (also part of the complex are the Adler Art Academy and Beecher Flad Pavilion and Ford Family Recital Hall). Its main tenant is the Youngstown Symphony, who performs from October through May. However, it also hosts other musical acts, touring Broadway productions, and locally produced theater (primarily from Ballet Western Reserve and Easy Street Productions, two Youngstown-based theater companies).
Designed by the architects Rapp and Rapp, Powers opened as the Warner Theatre on May 14, 1931, part of the massive chain of theaters operated by the Warner Brothers film company. It thrived as a movie theater until it closed in 1968. The theater was scheduled to be demolished and replaced with a parking lot, but a huge outcry prompted the Edward W. Powers family to come up with $250,000 to save it. The theater was restored in 1969. Many of the items in the theater were auctioned off and the auditorium underwent an extensive acoustical renovation to turn the former movie house into a concert hall. In September of that year it was re-christened as Powers Auditorium with a performance by the Youngstown Symphony.
Today, Powers has a capacity of 2,303, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The building continues to be expanded. In 2000, a new East Wing was completed, giving the Symphony a music library and administrative office, as well as an elevator and equipment that brought Powers up to standard in handicap accessibility. Recently completed is the Beecher Flad Pavilion, comprised of the Ford Recital Hall, 600-seat auditorium for orchestra, brass, and choral performances; new kitchen facilities, new dressing rooms, expanded loading docks, and soundproofing so that Powers and the new auditorium can be used simultaneously.
