Steubenville, OH - Concrete company helping to revive the Grand Theatre stage

posted by ThrHistoricalSociety on December 2, 2016 at 7:56 am

From WTOV-9: The Grand Theatre in downtown Steubenville has seen a massive amount of reconstruction during the past several years.

And a crucial piece of the historical building – it’s stage – was worked on Monday, free of charge, thanks to the folks at Byers Concrete.

“If this place can get rolling, the sky is the limit on what they can do with it,” said Jonathan Byers, owner of the concrete business.

Byers said when he came down and saw what it entailed, he immediately knew he was in.

“This is exciting to me,” he said. “Because the atmosphere walking into this building, the history behind it, and just walking in here, it kind of gives you a different, weird kind of energy."

The theatre has seen a number of volunteers and businesses donate in some fashion during the past 6 years.

“I think without that, we wouldn’t get it done,” said Scott Dressel, president, Grand Theatre Restoration Project. “Especially in a community that has been struggling as hard as Steubenville.”

“Anybody that is interested in putting up about 10,000 square foot of drywall on a ceiling that’s 5/8th thick, we need someone to do that,” Dressel said with a laugh.

Byers hopes, like has, that others will follow suit.

“There’s a lot of people that maybe don’t realize how big of a deal this is,” Byers said. “If this place could get kickin again, it might open up something big down here.

“Little positive things like this, hopefully it’ll boost something bigger, and then it’ll overcast all that negativity that goes on around this area."

If you would like to lend a hand and volunteer at the Grand Theatre, you can contact Dressel at 740-632-2899.

Story link: http://wtov9.com/news/local/concrete-company-hoping-to-help-grand-theatre-stage-strong-again

ABOUT THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Founded by Ben Hall in 1969, the Theatre Historical Society of America (THS) celebrates, documents and promotes the architectural, cultural and social relevance of America’s historic theatres. Through its preservation of the collections in the American Theatre Architecture Archive, its signature publication Marquee™ and Conclave Theatre Tour, THS increases awareness, appreciation and scholarly study of America’s theatres.

Learn more about historic theatres in the THS American Theatre Architecture Archives and on our website at historictheatres.org