forum flooding
TRANSCRIPT
The Forum Theater in the Radio-Television Building has flooded possibly in part due to the amount of water used to fight the fire on West Union Street Sunday and the rain, said Michael Lincoln, artistic director and division head of the Division of Theater.
This isn’t the first time the theater has been soaked in water.
“We’ve always had leaking problems,” Lincoln said. “It’s like having a building built into a bathtub.”
Facilities has been work-ing since last night to get the theater dried by Tuesday. The division’s latest production, The Cherry Orchard, was set to premiere Wednesday but will be held until Thursday assuming there is not a larger issue, Lincoln said. A Sunday
matinee will be added.Alycia Kunkle, a third-year
graduate actor who plays Varya in The Cherry Or-chard, recalled the rehearsal Sunday evening and said around 11 p.m. everyone no-ticed the water in the theater.
“They were trying to block it off with plastic tarp with stage weights on them, paper towels,” she said. “It looked like a game of Mouse Trap with the way they were trying to run the water out.”
The two areas with the most significant damage were the small closet directly be-hind the top row of audience seating and the vomitorium, a passageway built under the audience that allows an actor to enter or exit the stage.
The overwhelming smell of mildew filled the air. The walls were painted with the dripping stains of old leaks. Rust and what looks like mold completely cover one corner
in part of the vomitorium.Nathan Davis, a first-year
graduate student studying sound and projections design, said he is mostly concerned with all of the equipment in those areas, especially the 400-amp tower that currently has a small pool of water next to it.
Davis said he can’t fully as-sess the damage until every-thing has completely dried.
Lincoln said it looks like the water is coming from the wall alongside the alley which runs between the RTV Build-ing and Kantner Hall.
A worker came Monday evening to do concrete seal-ing. Lincoln said it had been done successfully four years ago. However, he said if the sealant doesn’t work, the al-ley might need to be torn up to investigate the problem further.
“It just keeps happening,” Franny Gallagher, sound
designer for The Cherry Or-chard, said. “It was like a mini river. … This is the third show in the Forum this semester and it’s the second show that has gotten wet.”
And the constant flooding can only exacerbate the ongo-ing issue of the rotting stage
in the Forum. Lincoln said they tested
the stage recently and noticed the upstage area, which is furthest from the audience, is entirely rotted on the left side of the stage, known as stage right. Sheets of plywood are now on top of it so people’s
feet don’t go through it, he said.
“It’s hard to see part of the house leaking and you can’t do anything but get some pa-per towels,” Gallagher said.
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The tone was somber at 8 E. Washington St. Monday eve-ning, when Kent Butler, acting president of Athens City Coun-cil, asked if councilmembers had anything they wanted to say.
Councilman Steve Pat-terson, D-at large, opened the weekly meeting by extending thanks from city officials to each of the first responders who spent Sunday extinguish-ing the flames that engulfed five buildings on West Union Street.
According to a press release sent out by the city Monday af-ternoon, six fire departments responded to the call, bringing approximately 60 firefighters to the scene.
Patterson attributed this to an agreement made between various cities in surrounding areas.
“I think our mutual agree-ment with other cities is … working and working well,” Patterson said.
Despite the many meetings held by city officials Monday, Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said the city has no plan to assist af-fected business owners at this point.
“We’re just trying to get the place stabilized as fast as pos-sible,” he said.
According to the news re-lease, firefighters continued “spraying down hot spots that continue to flare up” late into Monday afternoon.
Wiehl did say that it was “too early to say what will hap-pen” following the fire.
“Right now, we’re waiting to
see what the data looks like on the fire itself,” Patterson said.
Patterson added that city officials still don’t know what started the fire that affected seven businesses on West Union Street.
“We’ll help out the best we can,” Wiehl said, adding that the city would put out notices with more information as soon as they could.
Butler added to that senti-ment.
“Obviously, we want to see the businesses established and returned to prominence,” he said.
Butler, an Ohio Univer-sity alumnus, said he was im-pressed with the university’s response.
“I think that we’re really lucky to live in a community where there is so much sup-port for students as well,” he said. “It makes me proud to be a Bobcat.”
Councilmembers also ap-plauded the way local busi-
nesses rallied around owners of the destroyed buildings.
Councilwoman Michele Pa-pai, D-3rd Ward, and Patterson attended a meeting at ARTS/West, 132 W. State St., Monday afternoon.
“(It was) a coordinating ef-fort in trying to get people to talk to each other,” Papai said.
Patterson said discussion pointed to how city officials could better help employees that had been laid off due to the fire.
“It’s the business commu-nity pulling together to find employment … for the employ-ees,” Patterson said.
Councilwoman Jennifer Cochran, D-at large, further voiced her concern for the un-employed.
“You don’t really think about the extent of the after-math.”
EMILY BOHATCHFOR THE POST
Council extends thanks to first responders
Flooding in Forum Theater causes damage, delays
KAITLIN OWENS | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Flooding causes damage in the vomitorium of the Forum Theater in the Radio-Television Building. As a result, the opening of a performance is moved to later in the week.
MERLY GOTTLIEBSTAFF WRITER