A Bit of Black Box Drama
So far I’ve been telling you about what we’re doing to make the Black Box better, more functional, better able to serve the needs of the theatre we’re developing.
The Black Box, as you know, has been our lifeline for the past four years. But at the same time it’s been saving the theatre, it has been under attack itself.
Remember the trees in the roof? These trees had roots and the roots were growing into the walls. When they were removed, things began to happen.
The crack can be seen on the far right of the photo
Today I want to take you back to the last weekend of Arsenic and Old Lace. The Black Box renovation hadn’t started yet. The contractors were still working on the WVS, but they had also started working on repairing some of the damage on the outside of the PAB Black Box—addressing the sources of the leaks that allowed water to come through the wall and seep onto the floor. These leaks, it seemed, were caused by some of the trees growing out of the roof. They were rooting in the gutter, actually, and they followed the water that leaked out from the destroyed gutters down to the ground.
We were upgrading the electricals on the property and noticed that the electrical box was in awful shape, so Philip asked the workmen to repair it. They started the work in the afternoon, but noticed that there was a crack that ran down the corner of the building that made the corner structurally unsound. You can see it in this photo, where it really doesn’t look like all that much. But the contractors didn’t want to let it stand. So they began to repair the corner of the building.
The corner of the Black Box in mid-repair …
But there was a complication!! There was a performance in the theatre that night, and the cast started to arrive to prepare from 5 PM. At 5 PM, this is what they saw in the Green Room when they arrived.
Brand-new air conditioning!!!
What followed was equally dramatic. Cement had to be poured into the corner, and it happened while the cast was changing. I’m not going to say that there was no cement getting on costumes. But I am going to say that, in the end, repairs were effected.
In our renovation, the drama was not only on the stage!!
