There are many live theater options in the Mahoning Valley.

Some of the productions have been successful enough to get extended runs or become annual traditions.

But there aren’t many local stories like “Couples Therapy.”

Written by Jason Tarr and starring John Cox and Brandy Johanntges, the comedy has played dozens of theaters in several states since its 2022 debut at the Youngstown Playhouse, and it will travel to at least 13 cities in five states in 2026.

Tarr, who lives in Poland, initially was a standup comedian, first taking the stage at an amateur night in 1992 at the Funny Farm Comedy Club when it was at the Holiday Inn Metroplex in Liberty.

He turned it into a career, opening for Carrot Top at Stambaugh Auditorium before relocating to southern California. He did a pilot for Paramount and worked as a touring comedian, but he got tired of the grind and wanted to create a show for theaters instead of comedy clubs.

Tarr shaped the relationship material that dominated his act into a show about married therapists conducting a seminar. The characters were high school sweethearts and both children of divorced parents who reconnect years later at a medical conference.

“I was trying to do this as cost effective as possible, following a model that I was taught by a guy named Robert Dubac,” Tarr said. “He’s written three or four of these, and his biggest hit was ‘The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?’ He taught me how to get a script to the stage.”

One way is to go through New York, either Broadway or Off-Broadway. As the song says, ‘If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,’ but there are many obstacles, starting with the staggering cost of mounting a show in New York The option Dubac followed was partnering with a regional theater in Denver, where he could affordably workshop his ideas and develop them into a show he could take to other markets.

“I needed to find a theater that would help me,” Tarr said.

He initially partnered with The Players Guild in Canton, where he presented an early version of “Couples Therapy” for invited audiences. However, when the assistant artistic director left, those remaining at the theater were less interested in the project. He also reached out to Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland, but the focus of its staff members was on their own season. That’s when someone introduced Tarr to Cox, who is president of the Youngstown Playhouse’s board.

Cox, a pediatrician who originally wanted to be a standup comedian, immediately embraced the idea.

“When I first read it, I immediately could see the show,” Cox said. “I could just see it in my head. I saw Brandy as my co-star in it. I was like, ‘I know how we can fix this. I know what we can do for it.’ And we set it up to be able to be done theatrically, but also be able to be a package show to where you can travel with it pretty lightly.”

Tarr added, “With the support of the Playhouse, I didn’t have to pay any rent or anything like that, and they provided a lot of support in terms of the technical side of the show — how to make it work with sound and lights, the stage direction and all that.”

The production elements for the show have been upgraded since its Playhouse debut, but Tarr still uses photographs taken from that original staging in his marketing and promotional materials.

In most cases, “Couples Therapy” goes into different markets as a rental. Tarr picks the location, pays the theater for the use of its space, and then it’s up to him to sell enough tickets to make it profitable. The big advantage of the New York route is publicity and name recognition. If it was successful there, theaters around the country will pay a guaranteed fee to bring it to their town.

“There aren’t that many theaters that do a pure purchase (for a show like ‘Couples Therapy’),” Tarr said. “On the other side of the spectrum, with renting there’s more upside potential. You can make more money.”

In all the dates they’ve played, they only lost money on one performance. It was in Asheville, N.C., and Tarr took the advice of the theater owner and spent several thousand dollars on radio and television advertising. They didn’t sell enough tickets to make up for the marketing expenses.

Targeted marketing through social media and putting time and money into the show’s website (couplestherapyplay.com), which Tarr claimed is better than the websites for many New York productions, is where he focuses his promotional efforts.

The business plan worked well enough that “Couples Therapy” has returned two or three times to the same venue in some cities, and some locations that started as a flat rental are now co-productions with the theater.

“That’s what I really love, because now we both have skin in the game,” Tarr said. “I’m going to do some marketing, you’re going to do marketing, and we’re both going to walk away with some money. I’ve been finding more and more theaters like that approach, and they go that route.”

Mid-size, blue-collar cities have been the best draws for the show. On Valentine’s Day, the show made its third appearance at Akron’s EJ Thomas Hall, where it has sold out the lower level of the theater, which is about 1,000 seats.

They’ve played cities as large as Boston, where they still made money, but it was less money than smaller cities because of the additional travel costs and greater competition. Tarr said in those larger cities, a show like “Couples Therapy” is competing with professional sporting events as well as numerous other entertainment options. Mid-size cities have populations large enough to draw a substantial crowd without the same glut of attractions.

The Playhouse also has benefitted from the experience. Cox said he’s seen firsthand how other theaters operate and what they have to do to accommodate touring shows like “Couples Therapy.” With the main theater and the Moyer Room at the Playhouse’s location off Glenwood Avenue, and with a downtown Youngstown performance space slated to open in March at the Morley Arts Building, the Playhouse can offer many options to traveling shows.

“We’re going to start looking for shows like our show (in order) to have theater there without having to produce so much,” Cox said. “So using the Playhouse more as a venue (for other productions) has definitely come into play more because of our show and what I’ve learned by doing it.”

For now Tarr plans to keep following the current plan, primarily focusing on cities they can travel to easily from northeast Ohio, going back to the cities where it is most successful and looking for new markets they pick up within that radius.

Even though it means more work trying to coordinate schedules with multiple venues, Tarr usually tries to book shows on both a Friday and a Saturday in nearby but non-competing markets in order to reduce travel expenses.

“If we’re driving all the way to Syracuse (N.Y.) just for a Saturday night, I want to hit somewhere else on a Friday,” Tarr said. “Where can we go to maximize the trip?”

Tarr has looked into getting the show published and available for licensing through a company like Concord Theatricals or Dramatists Play Service, the kinds of publishing companies the Playhouse works with when selecting shows for its season. However, licensing fees for nonmusicals aren’t expensive, and the publishing company gets a substantial percentage of that.

“I’d have to really be doing a ton of licensing deals (to make any money),” Tarr said. “Otherwise, am I just saturating a market that I could have potentially come to myself with the tour?”