YOUNGSTOWN, OH (May 20, 2025): The Board of the Youngstown Playhouse is proud to announce the First Juneteenth Festival of New Works program. The event will take place on Wednesday, June 18th at the McGuffey Center (1649 Jacob’s Road) and Thursday, June 19th at the Youngstown Playhouse (600 Playhouse Lane) both evenings begin at 7pm. Both evenings are in support of the Playwrights, who were participants in our first Playwriting Workshop, held September 2024, and those who participated in the Playwriting Contest held at the end of January 2025.

Join us for two nights of enlightenment, enjoyment, and praise about our ancestors and the joy of being free from slavery. Six playwrights will have their written plays staged and performed by Youngstowners to tell stories real and conceived about their lives. It is written that on the first Junteenth, June 19, 1865, – 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, over 250,000 slaves in Texas were finally set free. It is said that the slaves in Galveston quit working and began cooking, and their enjoyment came from telling stories about their past lives as slaves. They recounted how they had fooled their masters, how some had run away and were successful, and some who were not. Then they played baseball (an activity for which they had been prevented from enjoying during the times of slavery).

We will gather for two nights for the staged readings where the audience will be able to make comments, remarks, and opinions to the playwrights regarding what they liked or disliked. The entrance fee will be $5.00 each night for all seats.

The playwrights include: Sherry A. Franklin-Berry, Michele A. Day, Ariel Ali, Ramona Austin, Torah Adams-Lewis, and Christopher McDuffie. Dr. Deana Thomas, Carla Gipson, Jai Jackson, and David Brown will serve as directors of the plays.

This program is supported by contributions from the Ohio Arts Council, the Raymond John Wean Foundation, as well as the McGuffey Centre and Councilmen Thomas Hetrick and Julius Oliver.