From weekly assemblies to performances by the incredible performing arts department, Roberts Theater is truly the heart of the Kingswood Oxford community. Nothing has made that fact more apparent than the recent incident that occurred over winter break.
On Dec. 18, 2023, the newly upgraded deluge system – a type of fire suppression system – above the Roberts Theater had a sensor malfunction that caused it to activate mistakenly. The deluge system, which dispenses water at about 1,000 gallons per minute, was on for 30 minutes, meaning that approximately 30,000 gallons of water were dropped onto the stage and the first nine rows of the house.
The floor of the stage took the worst of it and only got worse as the days went on; as the wood began to dry, it buckled and warped, leaving an unusable surface that needed to be completely replaced. Luckily, the seats of the theater were fine after being professionally cleaned to avoid any mold growing. The flooding severely damaged the stage, the curtains, and the majority of the lighting and sound equipment. Water also flooded into the hallway behind the theater, the lady’s dressing room, the trap room, and a little into the costume room. The hydraulic pit was another area of concern, as about two feet of water had to be pumped out of it, but, luckily, it was deemed in good condition.
As soon as those in charge realized what had happened, the planning commenced. First, it was important to minimize the damage as much as possible, so Facilities, Technical Theater Director Michael Bane, and SMG (a cleaning company) immediately began cleaning up and doing their best to prevent any more damage from occurring. “I started moving stuff off the stage, throwing it out, and moving things around,” Mr. Bane said. “We got a dumpster here immediately.”
While members of the KO faculty had been demoing much of the theater over winter break, actual construction on the stage floor started on Jan. 2, 2024. Within a week, the floors had been completely ripped up, and two weeks later, the new floor was in place. There is still more work to be done before the stage is usable, however, as the safety of the school community is of the utmost priority. “There’s still some stuff to do dealing with the traps and trying to fix that, to make everything nice,” Mr. Bane said. “We are not going to have an opportunity to go back, and this did all get damaged. We have to make sure that it’s safe for everyone.”
While the floor might be moving along quickly, getting the new lighting and sound equipment is a different story. Calls were made to vendors soon after the accident, explaining the situation and asking if they could provide KO with the equipment necessary, but, even so, it is very likely that some of the lighting equipment will still be arriving up until March.
The theater is a space that is used quite often by all of the KO community, so not having access to it was something that was bound to be very challenging. Quickly after the accident happened, Head of the Upper School Lisa Loeb created a planning document to figure out new venues for the events that were supposed to take place in Roberts Theater during the construction timeline. For example, WIAF (the Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival) will now take place at the Mandell JCC on Feb. 10. “I wanted to do WIAF on the 27th and bring in a basic sound system to make it work so we could have it here,” Mr. Bane said. “But it got to the point where I didn’t want to put that burden on us. That would be our four-week window, and stuff will happen.”
Additionally, prior to the accident, the Upper School and Middle School had their respective assemblies weekly in Roberts Theater. This time was an opportunity to bring the community together for a little while to hear from and celebrate others. Without Roberts Theater, however, this task has proven to be a little more difficult. This was a concern for the student government. “It was important to figure out a new place to host assemblies so we can still bring the community together while Roberts is being rebuilt,” Speaker Nicolas Tippner said.
This task was tackled by the Student Life Administrative Team which is made up of Dean of Students Kata Baker, Director of Athletics Josh Balabuch, Head of the Middle School Ann Sciglimpaglia, Associate Head of the Middle School and French teacher Kathryn Dunn, Counselor Felicia Velez, and Mrs. Loeb. This team came together with Mr. Reynolds on the in-service day – the day before the students came back from winter break – to create and share plans so that everyone in the KO community was informed about the situation. “One of the things I think is about everyone having gone through COVID is that we realize we can do things like this and that it’s going to be okay,” Mrs. Loeb said.
This accident also poses many difficulties for the performing arts department, specifically for the musical. The musical is such an important part of this community, and the possibility of losing it has been a great concern for many at KO. “A lot of the cast have told me there were so many people coming up and asking them about the musical and what would happen without the stage,” Performing Arts Chair and Director of Theater Kyle Reynolds said. “Everyone is asking and so many people are invested. That makes me so happy.”
As of right now, the hope is to maintain the original performance dates – February 23 and 24 – for many reasons. Every year, the theater department hires about 20 musicians from the Goodspeed Opera House who have reserved that weekend for the musical. If the musical had to be postponed, they would likely not be able to play for the musical, which would be a huge problem. At the moment, the Plan B would be to push the musical to March 1 and 2, then to March 6 and 7, and, if necessary, to after spring break. While none of those are preferable, performing on the original dates at a different location is not currently an option. “As of right now, all the plans include staying and performing at KO,” Mr. Reynolds said. “Also, I haven’t been able to wrap my head around a place where we could perform and Mr. Bane could build the set.”
Beyond the stage, there are concerns about the sound and lighting for the musical. The difficulty with the sound and lighting equipment is that some of what was damaged is five to 10 years old, so some of it is either not made anymore or is still made but has been upgraded, so the way it connects to the system is different. This makes getting the new equipment a little more complicated, but the musical should be mostly unaffected by it. “At this point, I don’t foresee us seeing 100% until we get back from March break, but that could change; these are estimates,” Mr. Bane said. “Sound might potentially be done before the opening of the musical in February and we have enough lights to do what we have to do. It’s not ideal, but we’ll make do.”
Despite all of these concerns, according to Mr. Bane, the situation isn’t all bad. “The way I look at it, it is a blessing and a curse,” Mr. Bane said. “It’s not ideal the time that it happened, but at the same time, it gives us a chance to use it as a teaching tool for the students. If we were doing a tour, we have our sets, we load them, we practice on the stage for a few days, then you do the show, and start all over again.” Mr Reynold agrees that there is a silver lining to be found. “The show is iconic alone, but this adds a certain something,” he said. “I have a dream that we are starting the overture, and the lights are turning on, and that everything is all brand new for A Chorus Line. It will be really amazing.”
Senior Dance Captain Lucy Ybarra believes that staying positive and hopeful about the theater is key. “Being a dance captain, I have a lot of jobs to do; one is being able to see the bright side of things,” she said. “Keeping hope is a key factor in dance. If things don’t go your way the first couple of times, you try try try again. And that’s exactly what is going on with the theater.”
Currently, the floor of the stage is all in place but still needs to be sanded and painted. Once that is done, things can start to be put back together and, hopefully, the community can begin to move back into the theater. The original timeline for the return to the theater was four to six weeks and construction has adhered to that very well so far. As of right now, the goal is to be ready by Feb. 9.
Communication and collaboration have been the key to accomplishing this. From the beginning, the goal was to work together as a community to solve all of the issues that might arise. “I dealt with everything collaboratively,” Mr. Reynolds said. “I called a meeting with the arts faculty, trying to respect their break as much as possible, but at the same time get in contact with them to see what their thoughts were; I didn’t want to be the only one making decisions.” Mr. Bane agrees. “I know it puts a lot of stress on people’s court, but all I can say is that communication is key to this,” he said. “Everything has been going fairly well and smoothly because we have been communicating about what is needed and moving things.”
When discussing the situation in Roberts Theater, it is important to recognize the team that worked so hard to make the whole process as smooth as possible. We as a community need to give a huge thank you to the facilities team for their dedication and hard work. None of this would have been possible without them.
As we move through the next couple of weeks, let’s remember to stay positive and look forward to returning to the theater!
