Fire Damages Ohio Theater
By Kate Nickel | Online Only | Oct. 29, 2008
In the small town of Loveland, Ohio, the show must go on.
This week, members of the Loveland Stage Company are reeling after a fire broke out inside the town's 1939 theater. No one was hurt in the Oct. 20 blaze, which firefighters say originated from heat lamps used to illuminate brand new stained-glass windows. The building, which has been home to the theater company for the past decade, suffered a collapsed roof and massive damage to the interior, but its facade remains intact.
Despite the damage, the community is optimistic about the theater's future. At a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, company members will assess the possibility of performances returning to the theater. In the meantime, the Loveland Fire Department has set up a repair fund, and productions continue in a local high school.
"The theater is just vital to the historic district," says Loveland Stage Company founder and president Pat Furerter. "We bring in a lot of people who wouldn't normally come here ... a new generation who otherwise wouldn't necessarily know about theater."
After the cinema closed in the 1960s, the building served as a storage facility for decades. The Loveland Firefighters Association purchased the building in the late 1990s and began renting the space to the theater company, eventually donating it to the group. The Loveland Stage Company rehabilitated the old theater; in fact, two weeks before the fire, the company had installed new carpeting, computerized lighting and sound equipment, and the $6,000 stained-glass windows.
Compounding the damage to the theater is the loss of a large costume collection. "Parts of the community went up in flames, too, since people gave the treasured possessions of their deceased loved ones," says the company's costume mistress Peggy Stouffer. "People see that their mother's life goes on. Even though she has died, she comes alive on stage because the performer is wearing her clothes."
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