Theater group going strong after 70 years

BOUQUETS >> To the Workshop Players Theatre for celebrating a whopping 70 years of offering quality theatrical performances for the community.

The 2017-18 season marks the 70th anniversary for Workshop Players. All the plays have been performed before by Workshop Players, but the dramas, comedies and musicals will get new twists this season.

Pat Price, one of the actors in the recent musical, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” who also serves as theater board secretary and editor of its weekly newsletter, said, “The idea was to take something from each decade and reboot it.”

The theater got its start in the summer of 1947 when several Clearview High School students, including Valerie Jenkins Gerstenberger, graduated but wanted a place to continue performing.

Gerstenberger directed the actors in “Western Union Please” in August 1947 at the Clearview High auditorium. It was the first incarnation of the group that would become Workshop Players.

Workshop Players’ current home is the 1898 sandstone schoolhouse at 44820 Middle Ridge Road in Amherst. It seats 100.

We congratulate the Workshop Players Theatre on its 70 years and wish them many more.

BOUQUETS » To the Lorain County Community Action Agency which moved Sept. 18 into a new location, 936 Broadway in Lorain.

The agency’s new home is a few blocks away from its former digs, 502/506 Broadway.

Jackie Boehnlein, president and CEO of the Community Action Agency, said, “This move represents an exciting development for our agency. While ever cost conscious, this was an opportunity not to be missed.”

The new space leased and improved by United Property Management Company consists of about 14,000 square feet. The new office will preserve the historic storefronts of the three buildings, a factor especially important to developer Jon Veard, owner of United Property.

Boehnlein said, “It was Jon who saw the potential of the buildings. Looking at blight up close is daunting, but Jon only saw vibrancy. Now those buildings are alive again and the agency has what it needs to operate well and work in service to help low-income residents of Lorain County improve their lives.”

With all of its services under one roof, the Community Action Agency can better serve its clients. Good job.

BRICKBATS » To Justin Christian, the 30-year-old Lorain man who will spend 35 years in prison — without parole — for breaking into two homes last year and kidnapping and raping a young girl and trying to abduct another in separate incidents.

Christian pleaded guilty Sept. 14 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to charges including rape, kidnapping and burglary.

Prosecutors said Christian carefully planned the abduction attempts and scouted the homes. They said he went into one home and unlocked several doors and windows the day before he tried to grab a 10-year-old.

That girl fought off the attempted abduction in February 2016 when Christian climbed into her bedroom window in Elyria and tried to pull her outside.

Christian kidnapped a 6-year-old Cleveland girl while she was sleeping at home and held her for about 17 hours at another home before dropping her off at an intersection.

Investigators found DNA on a ladder used in the second abduction attempt and were able to make a familial match and link Christian to both cases.

It was the first time the process was used in Ohio where investigators matched DNA from the abduction to the same gene pool of Christian’s deceased brother.

The one decent thing Christian did was admit his guilt so his victims wouldn’t have to testify in court.

And by the way, 35 years behind bars may not be long enough for this monster.

BRICKBATS » To Gary L. May, the 72-year-old Amherst Township man who was found guilty Sept. 18 by a Lorain County Common Pleas Court jury of sexually assaulting young girls.

May was convicted of 10 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition.

The charges stem from two victims.

The first was an 8-yearold girl, for which May was charged and went to trial. The second victim, who was described as being 21 years old in February, came forward later.

May will receive his punishment at 9 a.m. Sept. 22.

Just like with any other convicted rapist or sexual deviant, a message must be sent to the community that this kind of sick behavior against our children won’t be tolerated.

It’s simple: you mess with children, you’re going to prison.