ASHTABULA — Great theater awaited folks who attended a meeting Tuesday at the Senior Center about restoring Shea’s Theater.
At the invitation of the Ashtabula Downtown Development Association, theater restoration expert, Michael Hurwitz of Columbus, spoke to a standing-room-only crowd about rescuing, restoring and returning Shea’s Theater to its former grandeur.
He garnered much support from just about everyone — except Troy Bailey, a member of the Ashtabula County Council on Aging Board of Directors, who said he was asked to speak Tuesday on behalf of the board.
“We own the building, the bricks are falling off of the building and we are taking the building down,” he said. “We plan to demolish the theater.”
The Council on Aging owns the building at 4632 Main Ave., but only a small portion of the building is used for the Senior Center. Behind a false back wall is the main hall and the theater.
Bailey called the theater “an albatross.”
