SEATTLE — “The show must go on” – at least that’s the hope for a local theatre company now dealing with costly damage from a copper wire theft.
It happened at the Taproot Theatre in Greenwood.
“This is our 50th anniversary season and it was supposed to be a season where we were celebrating,” said Karen Lund, Producing Artistic Director for Taproot Theatre.
But that celebration has taken a hit, thanks to a copper wire thief or thieves who ripped apart the theatre’s rooftop H-VAC units.
“What I understand is it’s probably less than $100 worth of copper and it’s causing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of concern for us,” said Lund.
Lund says they’re not even sure when it happened.
“During our show Ain’t Misbehavin’ we noticed it was getting warmer at the end of the evenings than normal,” said Lund.
Mid-April, an employee went up on the roof to look for any problems and found a mess – damage which Lund says is well into the six figures.
“We have to redo the whole system because that system was the original system from 30 years ago and it’s no longer up to code. We have to redo the whole thing and then we have to get the city to approve it and we’ve been told that that could take weeks,” said Lund.
The damage could jeopardize a July production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and a summer acting camp for kids.
“If the system isn’t working, there’s no way that we can keep it comfortable,” said Lund.
The theatre’s been out of its comfort zone in the past – including a recovery from a devastating fire in 2009.
And now the theatre is asking supporters for donations to help with the steep cost of bouncing back, yet again.
On top of that, Lund says it’s unclear how much insurance will cover.
“There’s some concern as to whether or not our insurance covers this kind of vandalism and theft, as opposed to any kind of natural circumstance,” said Lund. “We don’t know what’s next for us.”
A production of Barefoot In the Park is scheduled for mid-May.
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