YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – John Cox has the personality traits necessary to be, say, a children’s doctor or the leader of a community theater.
It’s a good thing, too, because he holds both of those titles.
A cheerful and energetic problem-solver, Cox is a pediatrician with a practice based in Canfield.
He’s also the chairman of the board of The Youngstown Playhouse and an actor who regularly appears in plays and musicals. He and his wife are the parents of five grown children.
How does he find the time to do it all? “I don’t require a lot of sleep,” he says.
Cox has been at the helm of the Playhouse since 2017. He’s led the venerable theater into its centennial season, which began in August and will run through June.
It’s already been an auspicious year, with the theater garnering $398,000 in grants for physical improvements and outreach programs.
The year began with a Broadway-caliber production of the Broadway smash “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”
The season will end with a special program that will use film and live performance to relive the theater’s productions through the decades.
As both the face of the Playhouse and a decision maker, Cox has gotten used to long days.
But he doesn’t mind. He views the theater as his “sandbox” – an escape from the rigors of his medical practice and a place to play.
In addition to his administrative role at the Playhouse, Cox is also one of the area’s premier actors. He played a key role in “Beautiful” and many other stage productions. He also co-stars in “Couples Therapy,” an original comedy show that has played in several states.
How It Started
For someone so immersed in theater, Cox is a latecomer to the field. He was 26 years old when he first appeared on a stage.
“I always wanted to do theater when I was younger,” says Cox, who went to Boardman High School. “But I didn’t know anyone who did it. I played football and there was a stigma about theater at times.”
His first appearance on a stage was actually as a comedian.
“I started doing improv when I was in medical school in Kansas City,” he says. “So, I’ve been studying theater as long as medicine. I’ve had two parallel careers.”
Cox always wanted to do standup. He auditioned for the Lighten Up improv troupe in Kansas City and was selected.
“I figured, ‘Why not? Nobody here knows me,’” Cox says. “I was in Lighten Up for two and a half years. It’s where I learned how to be on stage. We did two shows a day every Friday and Saturday.”
Cox also did standup at a comedy club in Kansas City, using his medical background as fodder for material.
“They wanted me to go on tour but I said ‘No, I have to finish med school,” he says. “They thought I was kidding. They thought all [the medical talk] was just part of my routine.”
After returning to the Mahoning Valley, Cox entered an amateur competition at The Funny Farm comedy club and won.
Shortly after, he auditioned for his first role in a play – it was at the Playhouse – and was selected.
Cox was instantly bitten by the theater bug.
Naturally, his pediatrics practice was his top priority and remains as such. But the theater plays a role in his medical career.
“Theater is a counterbalance from my doctor job,” he says. “It brings stress and it’s a mental exercise. But it also allows you to escape.”
When the Playhouse hit tough times in 2009, Cox stepped up his involvement. The theater was deep in debt and on the verge of closing when Cox spearheaded a short season that would keep the building active while the board worked to save it.
“I didn’t want to see it close,” he recalls. “I didn’t want to go out like that.’
That involvement led to Cox becoming a Playhouse board member and launched his involvement with managing the theater.
He sees a parallel between running a theater and being a doctor.
“You diagnose what the problems are,” he says. “Then you fix the problem.”
By the way, Cox credits his ability to get by on little sleep to his medical training. “My residency prepared me for it,” he says, referring to the years of on-the-job training that followed graduation.
Celebration Time
The Playhouse has come a long way in the 15 years since its financial scare.
As its season-long centennial celebration continues, the theater is in good shape both financially and physically.
Both the interior and exterior have recently been painted and outfitted with new lighting. The parking lot has been repaved and an eyecatching LED sign has been erected at the entrance on Glenwood Avenue. Some roofing repairs have also been completed.
Helping pay for it was a better than average year for obtaining grants. The Playhouse received $238,000 from one grant spearheaded by state Rep. Lauren McNally and $100,000 from another grant secured by then-state Sen. Michael Rulli.
It also received $60,000 from The Youngstown Foundation to fund a program that provides free tickets to community members who might otherwise be unaware of what the theater offers.
“I love it,” Cox says. “Maybe we can spark a kid to see a show and think, ‘I can do that!’”
Cox was raised in a family that values community serv-ice. His father was a Boardman Township trustee.
He therefore recognizes the role the Playhouse plays in bettering the city at large.
Toward that end, the Playhouse is working to create a presence in downtown Youngstown. An announcement might be imminent, Cox says.
“We’re looking to acquire space for a small theater downtown,” he says. “It will be an art incubator and will involve collaboration with other arts groups in the city.”
Other Valley Theaters
The Hopewell Theatre was established in 1992, so it isn’t turning 100 this season.
But the building it performs in is going on 135 years old and often shows its age.
The former church at 702 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown, got some much-needed landscaping work this year and the theater paid almost nothing for it.
The Hopewell this summer put in a concrete wheelchair ramp to the front entrance to make it ADA accessible. But the ramp cut an imposing profile in front of the theater and needed to be softened up. That’s when some local landscapers came to the rescue.
“It was amazing because we didn’t solicit it,” says Regina Rees, president of the Hopewell Board of Directors.
The Mahoning Valley Landscape and Nursery Association, a local trade group, took on the project after one of its members visited the theater.
“They took it upon themselves to look at our property and come up with a beautiful landscaping plan,” Rees says. “Some members donated or gave huge discounts of all the plants and bricks and rocks.”
The association wound up doing $13,000 worth of work but charged the theater just a few hundred dollars.
It’s turning heads.
“We just got a beautification award from Youngstown Cityscape for improving Mahoning Avenue,” Rees says.
The theater also got a façade grant from the city that it used to pave its parking lot this year and sound equipment will be purchased next year using money from a Community Foundation grant, Rees says.
The Hopewell is currently raising money for two more major projects: to repoint the brickwork and construct an addition for bathrooms. Currently, the bathrooms are in the basement and accessible only by stairs.
Downtown Sharon
Area Community Theatre of Sharpsville continues to think big.
The theater moved to Sharon, Pa., two years ago, renovating a former church it purchased at the corner of West State and Irvine streets, downtown.
This year, it became the first local theater to purchase an LED wall used for scenery and backdrops. The screens have been adopted by Broadway and touring productions in recent years but have been slow to make it to the community theater level because of their cost.
The $45,000 device got its first use in October for ACTS’ production of “The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy.”
The 16-foot by 16-foot high-definition video screen is mounted on the back wall of the stage. It provides vivid scenery that moves like a film. It also eliminates the need for constructing and storing sets.
Funding for the video wall came in the form of a $20,000 grant from Visit Mercer County, the tourism bureau; a $20,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio; and $5,000 raised by the theater.
Tom Perman, president of the ACTS Board of Directors, described the video wall as “a milestone for this organization that will propel us into the future.”
New Life at Oakland
The Oakland Center for the Arts was a pillar of the Valley’s theater scene until it closed in 2015.
The Oakland has existed as a children’s theater since then. Now it’s poised to make a return.
It presented its first adult production in nine years this fall when it staged “The Rocky Horror Show” at the Youngstown Playhouse.
The theater, now under the leadership of Brendan Byers, received a $63,000 American Rescue Plan grant from the city of Warren last year.
The grant came with the stipulation the theater move to that city as soon as possible. The theater has been in talks with the owners of a downtown structure that it hopes to acquire soon, according to Byers.
Squeaky Wheel Theater
Columbiana Arts Theater (formerly Main Street Theater) was purchased for $850,000 this summer by SP Co., parent company of Columbiana-based Compco and Roman Bradford Corp.
The new owners are continuing the type of family-friendly programming the theater is known for, including live theater, rock concerts and films.
Squeaky Wheel Theater, the resident company, will continue to call Columbiana Arts Theater – or CAT – its home.
Erich Offenburg, director of the troupe, has been hired as manager of CAT.
The theater has also added business seminars to its lineup of offerings.
Pictured at top: John Cox, chairman of the Youngstown Playhouse Board of Directors.