WARREN, Ohio – A downtown church congregation is giving its building to a theater company that will use it as a venue for plays, dinner theater shows and other events.
First United Church of Christ has entered into a purchase agreement with the Oakland Center for the Arts for its building at 280 E. Market St. The sale price for the transaction, which will take effect Oct. 1, 2025, is $1.
The congregation is disbanding and wanted to ensure that its legacy of helping children and serving Warren lives on, the Rev. Gerald Gammon said.
The roughly 30 remaining parishioners voted by an overwhelming margin Sunday to give their building – which sits a few blocks east of Courthouse Square – to the Oakland. The purchase agreement was signed by church officials and Brendan Byers, executive director of the Oakland, immediately after the vote in the church sanctuary.
With its golden dome and pillars, the church is a landmark in downtown Warren.
The sanctuary has a sloped seating area that makes it well-suited for theatrical productions, Gammon noted. It holds approximately 150 people.
“It’s a beautiful building,” Gammon said, noting that it’s about 125 years old but well maintained.
The church has a basement social hall with a fully equipped kitchen and stage that could be used for dinner-theater productions and as a rehearsal space, Byers said. The kitchen equipment is also being given to the Oakland.
It also has ample storage space for props, costumes, lighting and sound equipment.
The sanctuary has fine stained-glass windows on its walls and a soaring ceiling topped with stained-glass art in its dome. As a condition of the sale, the Oakland cannot remove the stained glass, or alter or sell the building, within its first five years of ownership.
The parish had made public its intention of disbanding about a year ago and received several inquiries from interested parties. It was pleased that the Oakland was among them, Gammon said.
The congregation feared that some of the potential buyers would raze the building and use the land for other purposes.
“It had been one of our goals all along to help local youths and support an organization that will carry on our legacy,” Gammon said. “We’re excited about the Oakland’s work and, especially, what they do for children.”
The parish has long supported the city’s children through organizations such as the Warren Family Mission by donating school supplies, food, hats, mittens and coats, and having toy drives.
“Plus, it’s important for the rebirth of downtown Warren to have a theater downtown,” Gammon said. “What could be better than a theater and an avenue for helping children?”
The congregation will continue to hold services at the building until the sale is finalized. “Our final service there will be Sept. 28,” Gammon said. Afterward, the parishioners will have to find another church to join.
Gammon is also pastor of Living Lord Lutheran Church in Howland and expects some of the parishioners will join that parish.
Giving up the church building was tough for the congregation, Gammon said, but knowing that it will continue to be used for a good purpose made it easier. “Most of our parishioners are older and were raised in that church,” he said. “It’s a bittersweet decision, but we feel these people will carry on our legacy. They understand the gift they’re being given and will dedicate space inside to acknowledging our congregation, so in the future people will know where it came from.”
The Oakland will be able to start using the basement social hall immediately and may also start moving equipment into the building that is currently in rented storage units. “Storage is one of our biggest expenses right now,” Byers said. “We are spending $800 a month on it.”
Byers and the Oakland board of directors were excited to obtain the building, and for what it means for the theater’s future.
In October 2023, Warren City Council approved a $63,000 grant for the Oakland from its American Rescue Plan funds. The money was to be used to secure a location in Warren to present plays, Byers said.
The theater company had been looking for a building to call home since then. Being gifted a structure in the downtown was beyond its wildest dreams, Byers said. “We knew what we wanted to accomplish, and then this beautiful opportunity came up,” he said.
The Oakland Center for the Arts was founded in 1986 and produced plays in a rented space in downtown Youngstown until 2015, when financial pressure forced it to leave the space and halt all productions.
Byers and others revived it as the Oakland Kids First Initiative, offering theater instruction to youngsters and presenting shows in a Boardman church.
In November, the theater presented “The Rocky Horror Show” at The Youngstown Playhouse – its first production with an adult cast since 2015. While the Oakland will continue its emphasis on youth theater, it will also present shows for adult audiences in the future, Byers said.
The Oakland will have auditions in the near future for five upcoming productions: “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Sound of Music” and “Mean Girls Jr.”
“Beauty” and “Lion King” will feature youth-only casts, with actors ranging from age 6 to 18. “Wizard” and “Sound of Music” will have casts of youths and adults. “Mean Girls Jr.” will have a cast of youths age 12 to 18.
To learn more about auditions, go to the Oakland’s Facebook page or its web page.
Pictured at top: Brendan Byers of the Oakland Center for the Arts and Ron Schoch of First United Church of Christ sign the purchase agreement Sunday before the church congregation.