Members of a beloved Vermont show company were sleeping in theater dorms when rainstorms and floods The water flooded the theater’s vast basement, which contained changing rooms, costumes and props, and flooded the first floor, forcing them to flee.
A July storm left the massive, column-fronted white Greek Revival building with layers of dirt and debris, and the Weston Theater Company ended up on higher ground as volunteers and others dug through the mess. The place continues to perform. The shortened season ended last week on a smaller stage, and the actors are now figuring out how to make up some of the damage and rebuild their leased theater to improve the riverside town’s flood resistance.
This famous theater is located in the heart of the 620-resident Weston community in southern Vermont along the West River. Vermont’s oldest professional theater company attracts people from all over the country, including part-time residents and tourists who want to see performers from the New York City area without traveling to New York.
Some of the actors who were arriving for rehearsals for “Singin’ in the Rain” were delayed for days when the theater was flooded. The basement was also flooded during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The water level around this flood was about 2.5 feet (0.7 meters) higher.
Susanna Gellert, the company’s executive artistic director, said the loss was heartbreaking, especially after efforts to resume shows in 2020 that were disrupted by the pandemic. She said the company, which played outdoors under tents in 2021, only began to return to pre-pandemic levels this year.
“The real victim is our income,” she said.
The company posted on Facebook that most of the water was pumped out of the theater, but the damage was worse than after Irene, while accepting offers from community members to help remove dirt from the building and administrative offices.
The company was performing the sold-out show “Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story.” The sets and instruments are on stage, but all the costumes and advanced tools for the scene workshop are downstairs, which Gellert estimates cost $150,000 in equipment damage. The building’s HVAC and sprinkler systems were also damaged.
The Weston Community Association, which owns the building and supports the theater, is still tallying damage and repair costs for submission to FEMA.
This is the first time flood waters have reached the theater’s auditorium, said Dave Raymond, the association’s president, who also led the group during Erin’s time. He said the water “washed away” the first five rows of seats, which were to be salvaged, but the hardwood floors were already ruined.
“We’ve got to tear it all down,” Raymond said. “We had to remove the front of the stage because the water was coming out of the old pit where the orchestra was.”
The association and theater company spent about $450,000 to have professional crews clean and restore the building, he said. The association plans to move all electrical equipment upstairs except for the sprinkler system and use concrete to block windows that get water in — something Raymond said was “a matter of course.”
“We can’t see this beautiful river, and once it decides to do it, it becomes a monster,” he said.
Andrea Johnson, from Wellesley, Mass., said continuing performances despite flooding “shows the resilience of theater personnel.” When the show moved to the company’s smaller Walker Farm Theatre, she watched Singin’ in the Rain with her husband on higher ground. “The show must go on.”
That’s what Conor McShane, the actor who played Cosmo, said in the musical. “Whether it rains or shines, the show has to go on,” he told the Associated Press, though he can’t believe he didn’t add “the flood is coming” to his line each time, he said.
Citing the severe damage, the theater company ultimately decided to shorten its summer season, canceling one upcoming show and postponing another until next summer, when Raymond expects the theater to reopen.
“Thank you to everyone who came to help dig the theater out of the mud (from near and far!) and donated time, food, money, and resources to help pave our way forward — thank you,” Theater the company said. The show, which completed its 87th season, posted on Facebook on Sunday. “While the road to recovery will be long and arduous, it is nothing compared to the resilience you have reminded us of, and our gratitude cannot be expressed in words.”
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