The lights in the auditorium had not been changed in years, and as last school year progressed, more lights went out until it was difficult to see at all. Parents and students stumbled to their seats in near darkness — it was time for replacements.
On June 5 the school hired a lighting company to install new lights. One of these lights was not installed correctly, resulting in loose wires that sparked into flame. This led to the light unit falling directly into the seats on the right side of the theatre by the stage. As the flames grew, the seats and carpet caught fire as well.
The sprinkler system went off, which calmed the fire; however, the school’s stage was destroyed.
The damage resulted in the school needing to replace the carpet, the curtains, the background screen, the four front rows of seats on the right side of the auditorium and the entire stage.
The repairs are not costing the school due to the lighting company being at fault for the fire, said Theatre Director Cory Kelley. Their insurance is going to cover the necessary repairs to the school auditorium.
The stage and carpets are fully replaced, the seats are due to be replaced by the end of September and the new curtains and background screen have been ordered but will not likely come in until at least December.
Thankfully for the theatre department, Kelley has experience directing through difficulty.
“I mean we made it through 2020-2021 […] as long as we have a stage on which to rehearse, everything else we will figure out,” Kelley said.
In 2020, Kelley created a version of Sleepy Hollow that was performed on the schools’ cross-country trails for covid safety. The current show is able to be in the auditorium, which Kelley said is less challenging by comparison.
Luckily, rehearsals are taking place for the yearly one-act-play competition, which will take place at North Springs High School. Since the one-act play must be transported to another school, the tech department would already not be able to rely on Cambridge’s systems.
Senior Georgia Davidson, the school’s main sound technician, shared the struggle of not being able to get into the light and sound booth.
“Everything that regards lighting and sound we have not really been able to do,” said Davidson.
The theatre department has been using travel lights and a traveling sound board, but progress has stalled. According to Senior Grant Myrich, the main lighting designer for the show, the school is looking into buying more lights, specifically four elliptical LEDs, that run separately from the booth.
“It definitely makes my job a lot harder,” said Myrich. “I can’t really get the muscle memory of the cues before we go to North Springs for the competition.”
On Wednesday, the theatre department received the news that for the next show, Shrek the Musical, the light and sound booth will be in use once again.
