Staff photo / Andy Gray Brendan Byers, president and executive director of the Oakland Center for the Arts, talks about what will need to be done to transform the sanctuary at the former First United Church of Christ in downtown Warren into the community theater’s primary performance space.

WARREN — Before actors can trod the boards at the Oakland Center for the Arts’ new home, the community theater needs a stronger board to make its vision a reality.

A purse-and-tool bingo fundraiser on March 6 will be the Oakland’s first event at the former First United Church of Christ, 280 E. Market St., Warren. The series of cabaret shows on its basement stage should start in the spring. The effort to turn the church’s sanctuary into its main stage will take a larger team to provide the fundraising and support necessary, according to Brendan Byers, president and executive director of the Oakland.

“We want to have a bigger board, and we want a functional board,” Byers said. “We want a board that reflects Warren.”

The Oakland has a 40-year history in the Mahoning Valley and staged shows at various locations over the years, primarily in Youngstown. Under the guidance of Alexandra Vansuch, the Oakland had a reputation for doing serious works that many theaters shied away from as well as finding offbeat shows like “Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding” that became long-running financial successes.

For the past decade with Byers, who was operations manager of the Oakland under Vansuch for 3 1/2 years in the 1990s and was managing director of its touring Magic Carpet Theatre company, its focus has been on children’s theater through its Kids First Theater Initiative.

“The Oakland’s been kind of this small niche for nine years, because we were just doing kids’ stuff,” Byers said. “You can only get so many people to come to kids’ stuff. It’s never going to grow … To not only continue our children’s programming but to bring back adult programming, I’m over the moon about that.”

In 2024, the congregation at First United Church of Christ voted to sell the building to the theater for $1. The final church service was in October.

The building was in excellent shape, Byers said. The church made numerous improvements in recent years to the structure, and there are no major issues that need to be addressed.

However, a church is not a theater, and interior changes will be necessary before those large-cast children’s musicals and other productions can be staged in the former sanctuary. Many of the largest expenses can be avoided. The high ceiling in the sanctuary already can accommodate a stage, and the sloped floor will allow for unobstructed sightlines when theater seating is installed. Those seats have been acquired, and buyers have been found for the pews, Byers said. He estimated the main theater’s capacity around 150, perhaps a little larger.

The space already has a fully upgraded electrical system that will be able to handle the demands of a stage lighting and sound system.

“We have electric everywhere we need it,” he said. “One of the big expenses is adding electric, and we won’t have to do any of that. because it’s already there.”

Byers estimated the phase one renovation cost for the sanctuary at $130,000.

“That’ll give us the lighting, the sound and the building of the stage,” he said. “I already have some people that have given some bids.”

The downstairs stage requires less work, especially for cabaret shows and fundraisers, Byers said. The attached kitchen — which came equipped with plates and flatware and most of the elements required for a commercial kitchen — will enable the theater to serve some food and refreshments for those fundraisers and cabaret shows.

While upstairs rooms will be used to store props and costumes and for rehearsal spaces, other spaces could be rented out for classes or small businesses to offset the operating expenses of the building.

Byers said he knows it will take more than small fundraisers and cabaret shows to raise that phase one goal and additional, long-term renovations.

“The board is going to be the biggest single thing that’s going to make this thing move along, and they will help set the agenda for the major fundraising campaign,” he said.

Those interested in getting involved with the theater or serving on its board can contact Byers by calling 330-406-0606 or emailing oaklandcenter@gmail.com.