John Vacha – författare

This work takes the reader from the city''s first professional theatrical presentation in 1820, through the heyday of vaudeville, to the grand reopening of the newly renovated Allen Theater in 1999 and the return of touring Broadway shows to Cleveland.

In 1820 Cleveland was able to draw a visit from a troupe of professional actors. With no theater in which to perform, the troupe made do with Mowrey''s Tavern on Public Square.

As the city grew, theater blossomed and vaudeville flourished. In the early 1920s, five magnificent theaters opened at Playhouse Square—the State, the Palace, the Hannah Theater, the Ohio, and the Allen. Cleveland was also in the vanguard of the “little theater” movement with the establishment of the Cleveland Play House and the interracial Karamu Theater. After a period of decline in the 1960s and 1970s, live theater was reborn in Playhouse Square, which is now the second-largest performing arts complex in the country.

This work takes the reader from the city''s first professional theatrical presentation in 1820, through the heyday of vaudeville, to the grand reopening of the newly renovated Allen Theater in 1999 and the return of touring Broadway shows to Cleveland.

In 1820 Cleveland was able to draw a visit from a troupe of professional actors. With no theater in which to perform, the troupe made do with Mowrey''s Tavern on Public Square.

As the city grew, theater blossomed and vaudeville flourished. In the early 1920s, five magnificent theaters opened at Playhouse Square—the State, the Palace, the Hannah Theater, the Ohio, and the Allen. Cleveland was also in the vanguard of the “little theater” movement with the establishment of the Cleveland Play House and the interracial Karamu Theater. After a period of decline in the 1960s and 1970s, live theater was reborn in Playhouse Square, which is now the second-largest performing arts complex in the country.

A valuable addition to the literature on Ohio and the Civil War

Eminent Cleveland historian David Van Tassel had undertaken the challenge of writing an illustrated history of the Cleveland homefront during the Civil War. Unfortunately, he died in 2000 before completing his manuscript. Historian John Vacha completed the final chapters using notes, lists, and ideas that Van Tassel had gathered, and their efforts are presented in Behind Bayonets.

Behind Bayonets focuses on Ohio’s substantial role in the Civil War. It is perhaps the only work that uses published and unpublished sources written by northeast Ohioans to comment on the causes, course, and purpose of the war. It does not provide an overview of battles, but it does address soldiers’ enlistments and early camp experiences, women’s experiences, public reactions to emancipation and the general political interest in the war, local business growth during the war, and Lincoln’s assassination and the funeral train’s stop in Cleveland.

The authors use moving first-person commentaries and accounts to illustrate and explain these issues and situations. Additionally, the text is lavishly illustrated with rare photographs from the Western Reserve Historical Society’s archives.

This regional perspective on the war is a noteworthy addition to Civil War literature, offering insight into what was going on at home while the war was being fought.

A valuable addition to the literature on Ohio and the Civil War

Eminent Cleveland historian David Van Tassel had undertaken the challenge of writing an illustrated history of the Cleveland homefront during the Civil War. Unfortunately, he died in 2000 before completing his manuscript. Historian John Vacha completed the final chapters using notes, lists, and ideas that Van Tassel had gathered, and their efforts are presented in Behind Bayonets.

Behind Bayonets focuses on Ohio’s substantial role in the Civil War. It is perhaps the only work that uses published and unpublished sources written by northeast Ohioans to comment on the causes, course, and purpose of the war. It does not provide an overview of battles, but it does address soldiers’ enlistments and early camp experiences, women’s experiences, public reactions to emancipation and the general political interest in the war, local business growth during the war, and Lincoln’s assassination and the funeral train’s stop in Cleveland.

The authors use moving first-person commentaries and accounts to illustrate and explain these issues and situations. Additionally, the text is lavishly illustrated with rare photographs from the Western Reserve Historical Society’s archives.

This regional perspective on the war is a noteworthy addition to Civil War literature, offering insight into what was going on at home while the war was being fought.

How five beloved Cleveland theaters escaped the wrecking ball and inspired city-wide urban renewal

Shortly after World War I ended, five new theaters were constructed in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, all within a two-block radius. The concentration of these venues, which featured movies, vaudeville, and “legitimate” theater, became known collectively as Playhouse Square. For 50 years, the State, Ohio, Hanna, Allen, and Palace theaters enjoyed varying degrees of financial success until television, suburbanization, and urban decline darkened four of their marquees by the end of the 1960s.

In the 1970s, with the shuttered theaters facing demolition, groups of like-minded Clevelanders united to fight to save the Square, influencing the city’s establishment to create formal plans to renovate the theaters and ensure their financial viability. Playhouse Square and the Cleveland Renaissance tells the story of how the rejuvenation of Playhouse Square became one of the main catalysts for Cleveland’s larger comeback from postindustrial decline, inspiring and serving as a model for other urban renewal efforts across the city.

John Vacha is the first to write a comprehensive, in-depth account of Playhouse Square’s history, beginning with the Square’s 1921 opening and describing how the COVID-19 pandemic once again left its theaters temporarily empty before their triumphant reopenings in 2022. Richly illustrated and featuring interviews with the central figures involved in saving the Square, Playhouse Square and the Cleveland Renaissance is a powerful story that will appeal to theater history buffs and preservationists alike—reminding readers of the significant role the performing arts serve in shaping a city’s culture.