Shows On Hold as Flooded Weston Playhouse Pumps Out Water

Floodwaters, deeper than those inflicted by Tropical Storm Irene, filled the basement of the Weston Playhouse, lapped the floor near the first three rows of seats in the theater above and forced the 86-year-old Weston Theater Company to put its season on hold.

A single pump with multiple hoses attached had brought the water down to knee level by early afternoon on Tuesday, and an industrial cleaning crew was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, said Weston Theater Company marketing and communications director Andy Butterfield. Once the water’s out, staffers will assess damage and firm up plans.

The company’s second venue, Walker Farm, a six-year-old theater about 300 yards away from the Playhouse, is on higher ground and wasn’t damaged.

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, which opened on June 28, had been scheduled to run at the Playhouse through July 16. Costumes and props for the show were in the basement and are most certainly destroyed, said Susanna Gellert, the company’s executive artistic director.

The basement also houses the orchestra pit; dressing rooms; restaurant space; and the prop shop, two 500-square-foot rooms equipped with band saws, routers and other tools. Though Gellert hadn’t been able to see the basement yet, “I think everything’s pretty much gone,” she said on Tuesday afternoon.

Actors, who live in company housing, were evacuated and moved to a local hotel. Some staffers hadn’t slept, Butterfield said. Others, Gellert said, live in Ludlow, which was heavily flooded, “so many people just can’t get here to help.”

The flood has derailed what was shaping up to be a “really, really exceptionally good year for the company,” Gellert said. Audiences, deterred for years by COVID-19, have returned, and the company has a record number of subscribers and strong ticket sales, Gellert said. “We were really actually bucking the trends of the stories that we’re seeing in other theaters around the country.”

Buddy was sold out for the remainder of its run. What the Constitution Means to Me is supposed to start previews on Wednesday, July 12, and open this Friday, July 14. Singin’ in the Rain, scheduled to open on August 3, did start rehearsals on Tuesday but not in person, as planned.

“We all thought we were done with Zoom, right?” said David Bonanno, a Broadway actor in the show who lives in Weston.

Most of the other 17 cast members are coming from New York, Bonanno said, and between road closures and Amtrak’s disrupted service, haven’t made it to town. They had a meet and greet and started to rehearse music via Zoom.

Weston Playhouse, Vermont’s first professional theater, is a beloved — and resilient — institution in its tiny hometown, population 600. Fire destroyed the playhouse in 1962. Floods wreaked havoc in 1973 and again during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, and then COVID-19 shut everything down in 2020.

“But this organization is a super resilient organization … and we will figure out how to get through this, too,” Butterfield said. While the theater fielded many calls from people who had bought tickets and wanted to know the status of shows, it also got a call from a man who said, “We live in New Hampshire, but we love the theater and we want to be there to help when you’re ready.”

The nonprofit theater will need bodies in a bucket brigade, but Butterfield said he would also direct those who want to help to the theater website. “On the top right-hand side you’ll see a little yellow button; it says ‘donate.'”

The theater will reschedule shows or refund tickets, Gellert said in a letter to patrons. “The flood has dealt us a devastating blow,” she wrote, “and there are not words enough to express how grateful we are for the community we know will help to see us through.”

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