Celestia Theater becomes music hot spot in Wadsworth

PHOTOS PROVIDED

The former O.J. Work Auditorium, now called The Celestia Theater, operated by the Wadsworth Square Foundation, sold out opening night.

By EMILY CANNING-DEAN | BGNN staff writer

WADSWORTH  The many months of work restoring the former O.J. Work Auditorium to its 1920s glory seems to have paid off.

Now known as The Celestia Theater, operated by the Wadsworth Square Foundation, the venue was sold out during opening night when Journey tribute band ESC4P3 rocked the house Dec. 5.

“That was a great opening weekend, and we have had a couple of weekday concerts since then,” Tom Weyand, executive director of the Wadsworth Square Foundation said Dec. 11. “Tomorrow night we are having a lot of former members of the Michael Stanley band performing at the theater paying homage to him. We have a capacity of about 800 and we have already sold almost 600 tickets to that show.”

While the venue has attracted many Wadsworth residents, Weyand said roughly 60 percent of the ticketholders from opening night came from surrounding communities, some traveling from as far as Cleveland, Youngstown, Mansfield and Ashland.

“It’s a good opportunity for people to enjoy live performances in a different venue,” Weyand said. “Some people might not want to go into Cleveland or Akron whether that is a safety issue or the cost of parking. But we have roughly 1,000 free parking spaces here in downtown Wadsworth. I’ve gotten calls from several restaurants in Wadsworth who said their business was booming the nights we have had concerts so I hope that can be an economic driver not only for restaurants but also for some of the downtown boutiques.”

Along with the restoration of the theater, Weyand said the Wadsworth Square Foundation has a goal of supporting the local music scene.

“We want to give local musicians an opportunity to grow their fan base,” he said. “But we will also have national acts at the theater.”

The Verve Pipe, a band that had hits including “The Freshmen” and “Photograph” will perform at the theater Jan. 17 and Sierra Hull and The Milk Carton Kids will perform Feb. 21.

“We have scheduled performances across all genres including rock, oldies, contemporary Christian, bluegrass and even some gospel as well as a lot of tribute bands,” Weyand said.

Flame Backstage Grille, right off the theater, provides a place for ticketholders to enjoy a drink before the show.

“Eventually this will be a restaurant where ticket holders can grab a bite to eat before the show, but even now it is a full sit-down bar where ticket holders can come in and grab a beverage,” Weyand said. “We open a couple hours before the show.”

Weyand said he is thrilled with the design of the Flame Backstage Grill which is complete with murals and features that look like stacked road cases stenciled with the names of local music legends.

“Right now we are just working out some things with the utilities and plumbing with inspectors before we start serving food,” he said.

Weyand said sometime next year, the Wadsworth Square Foundation hopes to open an event center at the former Central Intermediate School building which is connected to the theater and also make some improvements to the grassy, outdoor space in the front of the building.

“We want it to be a nice relaxing outdoor gathering space and also an area where we could have some outdoor concerts,” he said.

For more information about Wadsworth Square Foundation and The Celestia Theater, visit wadsworthsquare.org.