“It is very serious,” says Community Outreach Director Matthew McGee, “but it is not a disaster. As of right now, it’s going to be very hard to use that room for shows.”
Contrary to rumor, freeFall’s roof didn’t fly off into the sustained-wind sunset. It’s intact … more or less. “Our offices are fine, and our auditorium is fine, but the actual place where we do the plays took a little bit of a beating,” McGee explains. “Basically, some of the roof coverings came up, which of course did allow water to get into the space.”
"The wind peeled back the protective membrane, which exposed the structural part of the roof, allowing water to inundate the performance space," Matt Davis, freeFall's master carpenter, said.
How much water, they don’t know yet — the theater complex was still without power as of Tuesday afternoon — but it looks like the sound and light equipment was damaged. The staff, including Artistic Director Eric Davis and Technical Director Nick Mathis, hasn’t been able to fully assess the damage.
As of Sept. 13, McGee says the set for upcoming White Fang escaped damage, but the concern remains with the electronics for the theatrical lighting, sound and the show.
Davis and Mathis were smack in the middle of rehearsals for White Fang, scheduled to open freeFall’s season on Sept. 29. It’s a collaboration with British playwright Jethro Compton (who is also directing), whose specialty is “re-imagining” classic American stories for the stage (White Fang is adapted from the novel by Jack London). According to McGee, it’s “cinematic — almost like we’re putting a Western onstage.”
Compton, who arrived in St. Petersburg two weeks ago, has been in rehearsals with cast and crew. Davis is directing the show, and he’s also designed a trio of wolf puppets to appear onstage with the actors.
The set was almost finished when Irma crashed the party.
But freeFall's determined to make the show happen, whether in the black box as originally planned, in freeFall's 275-seat auditorium space, or in some other alternative ye to be determined.
“To stay on schedule — which is what we’d like to do — Eric and Nick are working on finding a couple of different options to present the play if the room is completely unusable by opening. And truthfully, it probably will be," McGee says, adding:
“The idea that ‘the show must go on’ is one that they’re really going to try and work hard on. As of right now, there are no decisions as to the show being postponed. I just don’t have a ton of details yet as to how we’re going to make all that happen.”
As of Sept. 13, freeFall's creative staff had not decided whether to postpone the opening or move the show into the auditorium, which is on the same campus as the black box (both buildings were formerly part of a Christian Science church complex).
As to whether or not the show will open in the performance space everyone knows and loves, freeFall simply can't say yet. However, they've promised to let us know and we'll let you know as soon as they do.
"We've already filed two insurance claims, and have had assessors out here to give us a cost estimate," Margaret Murray, freeFall's development director says, "but we will put in place a community fundraising campaign to get back on our feet again."
This article appears in Sep 7-14, 2017.