WESTON — Flooding this month will force the Weston Theater Company, Vermont's oldest professional acting troupe, to relocate from its waterlogged playhouse for the rest of the year.
"The extremity of the damage combined with the difficulty of the timing requires us to make some essential changes," Susanna Gellert, executive artistic director, wrote in a statement to supporters.
The company - a cornerstone of its namesake Windsor County hometown of 623 - had planned for an 87th summer season with big productions at its white-pillared Weston Playhouse and smaller shows at its second stage at the nearby Walker Farm.
Then, on July 10, stormwater from the nearby West River ravaged the playhouse's basement and lowest slanted section of the first floor.
The company, having overcome a fire in 1962 and floods in 1973 and 2011, harnessed contractors in hopes of reopening soon enough to continue its season uninterrupted. But the work, it discovered, won't be quick.
"The impact of the July flood has far eclipsed that of Irene," Gellert wrote of the tropical storm that washed away a $700,000 renovation of the theater's dressing rooms, prop shop and orchestra pit a dozen years ago. "The damage to the playhouse, our offices and our residences in town is extensive."
As a result, all performances will move to the Walker Farm, where the current play "What the Constitution Means to Me" was already set to debut.
That means the company's big summer musical - fatefully, the splashy "Singin' in the Rain" - will make some ticket adjustments as it relocates an Aug. 3-20 run to the new stage.
"Based on seating capacity at our smaller venue, some flexibility around the date of your performance may be necessary," says an email from the box office to season ticket holders.The company will postpone its scheduled productions of "The Porch on Windy Hill" until next year and "Let There Be Love" indefinitely.
Since its start in 1937, Weston has morphed from a summer-stock bill of Broadway titles to a fully-professional year-round nonprofit drama, education and development center. Although the company is still calculating the damage, it has added a "donate" button to its website.
"The mountain of repair costs will be a steep one to scale," Gellert wrote in a statement that nonetheless sounds undeterred. "The story of Weston Theater Company and its community of friends near and far has always been one of resilience."
This Arts item by Kevin O'Connor originally appeared in VtDigger and was republished in The Commons with permission.