With its Mediterranean-inspired castle theme, European antiques, Italian alabaster sculptures and medieval-style carvings, the $2 million Akron Civic Theatre was dubbed “The Jewel on Main Street” when it opened in 1929 as a movie house.
The theater bustled for years while the rubber industry boomed, but in 1965, activity slowed. The deteriorating facility was in danger of closing. To save the theater, philanthropists — including the Akron Jaycee Foundation and the Akron Civic Theatre Women’s Guild that started in 1966 — banded together. The wives of movers and shakers in Akron, guild members did every thing they could to raise money — organizing bake sales, running rummage sales, launching a concession stand and operating a shop. To date, the guild has raised over $600,000 for the Civic.
“The theater is magnificent,” says Mary Anne Rothermel, chair of the committee that runs the guild-affiliated Stage Left gift shop. “It would be very bad if we had lost it.”
Funded largely by Summit County and the city of Akron, the Civic underwent a $22 million renovation, completed in 2002. But just a few years later, activity slowed again. The guild helped to bring in Howard Parr as executive director in 2007 — he has built it back up, bolstering programming partnerships with E.J. Thomas Hall, Goodyear Theater and Lock 3. More than 500 events are hosted each year between those venues.
“We’re in charge of all the entertainment downtown,” says Rothermel. “We’re an anchor.”
In 2021, the Civic underwent an approximately $9 million renovation, adding the 50-seat Wild Oscar’s and 200-plus seat Knight Stage venues. The Civic is one of very few remaining atmospheric theaters of its size in the country, with a starlit sky featuring intermittent clouds. Val Renner, marketing director and associate director of in-house programming, shares the history of the theater that remains a jewel of downtown.
“When they opened, they had lines wrapped around the theater. They had to show the movie three times to get everybody in. … The theater was the first place in Akron to have air conditioning.
Then the Depression hit. … They started bringing in vaudeville. … The first time they brought the circus in, they actually brought elephants. The elephants wouldn’t walk across the stage because the elephants had an innate ability to know what will hold their weight. … [They] put more structural support so that the next time the elephants came, they actually did walk across.
In the ‘60s, it wasn’t a very active place. The talk to take it down started. … Taking it down, piece by piece and moving it.
A lady named Ruth Oenslager, whose husband was [at BF Goodrich] … wrote a check of $50,000. … The Jaycees kept feeding the pot and the Women’s Guild. You had three major entities working to save the Civic — and they did.
I’ve been here 14 years, and I came in right when they were doing about 50 events a year. … Howard was working his magic to try and get Live Nation, all these people involved to bring in better shows. … We saw such growth.
The new Knight Stage and Wild Oscar’s — it’s exciting because these are new groups of people. … We’ve seen an increase in people attending shows because now we’re offering even more types of entertainment. … When we opened up, people were so excited.” — as told to Kelly Petryszyn
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Bruce Ford
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Akron Civic Theatre
