Ohio Theatre to celebrate anniversary of opening with show Friday

Sep. 8—LIMA — The Ohio Theatre is ready to celebrate its newest milestone Friday.

The historic venue will have been opened for one year by then since new owners Michael Bouson and Joe Correll began hosting shows last September after two years of restorations.

"Carl and Doug are from the Indoorfins and have actually performed here at our open mic nights before, but tomorrow night, they will take the stage as the Numskullz and the thing that we liked about them is that they represent our brand of entertainment, which is kind of light-hearted and popular, but not too on the nose," Bouson said about the night's musical entertainment. "They really fit our brand well so they're the perfect match for a celebration of our one year of the Stage Door Canteen being open."

The theatre will feature dinner and drink specials to go with the live entertainment, which begins at 7:30 p.m. and the audience should be able to expect as much fun as they have grown accustomed to from live shows at the venue.

"They involve the audience a lot with participation and engagement," he said. "So we'll get a little bit of the Indoorfins crowd and a little bit of our fanbase as well. We hope everybody plays nice with each other."

But to get to this point took a lot of work.

"Given that it took us over two years, to get to the point where we could even open our doors for the public, the fact that we've actually been open and operating for a full year is kind of astonishing," Bouson said. "It has really flown by in a blip. We're nowhere near where we hoped we would be after one year of operations in terms of sales and profitability and in fact, we're still in the losing money phase, but we remain encouraged and can't wait until year two."

Fortunately, though, a lot of things have changed since then.

"For 40 years, the theatre was either a nightclub or a place to occasionally hear a band on a Saturday night and now it's a place that is a little more elegant and upscale, but still very approachable and user-friendly for our audience and customers," Bouson said. "I think the attitudes about the place have changed our audience too. It's now very eclectic, but we get a range of people, from those in their 70s out for a nice dinner to people with piercings on their face to young people who know us from our work at the high school to women on a girls' night out. When we first opened, we were really hoping we would reach a cross-section of Lima and not just one demo and I feel like we've achieved that."

And following this most recent milestone, Bouson said that there is plenty to look forward to at the theatre, including two more shows left in the season and a new season when it reopens in February after a winter break.

"We will have more dinner theater performances and more special event performances," he said. "And this fall, we will have special events like the Indoorfins concert Sept. 30 and a mentalist/hypnotist in October."

But Bouson said everyone at the venue is focusing on the significance of this event for now.

"It's a huge sigh of relief that we've made it this far and we're still standing," he said. "There are many days where we ask if people our age normally work this hard. But something amazing will happen that evening and we are reinvigorated."

For more information on the show or the theatre, visit the Ohio Theatre website.

There is no cover charge for the show and seating is first come, first serve. Capacity is 60 people in the cabaret section of the theatre. Doors open at 5 p.m.

Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.