Please, excuse our mess. Friday the 13th proved to be a very bad day for a woman that lost control of her vehicle at a traffic light more than 500 feet away from the east wall of the Baytown Little Theater. Apparently she had a medical emergency and never applied her brakes as she picked up speed and ran through the traffic light to a grassy field across the street. She dodged bushes and a tree as she continued across the vacant field and into the theater parking lot where she avoided collision with a line of parked cars and rammed through the east wall of the theater taking out everything in the car's path before resting center stage. As you see from this picture, it left quite a big hole in the side of the theater. You can view more photographs of this freak accident on Kim's blog. You will need to click on Touchtone's Globe to find the video and pictures.
The first play I saw at the Baytown Little Theater was Fiddler On the Roof in the summer of 1972 when Kim, his dad and brother performed in the summer musical. After college, Kim and I were married, moved back to Baytown, and continued the family tradition of performing and working with the BLT. Kim's first play to direct/perform in after our return was a spunky little comedy called, Born Yesterday which stared Judy Holliday in the 1950 film version. My involvement in theater began with the BLT 1984 summer musical, Music Man. Kim played Prof. Harold Hill and the whole Martin family, minus 3 year old Ryan, had parts in the play.
Ever since then the Martins have performed on stage, worked backstage, made costumes, worked box office, managed the house, directed plays, served on the board of directors and various committees to help the theater. The non-profit organization depends on its membership support and donations to produce quality plays. Many families, friends and acquaintances from all over the community have enjoyed and profited from their involvement with the Baytown Little Theater.
So, what will this recent accident do to the BLT? Well, as the saying goes, "the show must go on" and so it will. Our current production Titanic, the Musical was due to go up July 27 and run for 3 consecutive weekends through August 11. It will likely open a week or so later, but plans are being worked out as I type to find another venue, possibly a local school, in which to perform the play. The director and assistants were busy immediately following the accident, calling cast members and finding rehearsal space to continue preparations for the show.
As to the future of the theater's building? We aren't for sure, but given the age of the building and repairs needing to be made prior to the accident, it well may have to be demolished. If that happens, we will be sad to see the old structure go because of all the great memories we've shared from play rehearsals, performances and just general good times. However, we also look to the future with the knowledge that we will rebuild and make new memories in the new BLT for many generations to come. As the Unsinkable Molly Brown said, "We ain't down yet!"
2 comments:
As we drove by last night, Kari remarked that if it has to be torn down, it will be sad that Aidan and Regan won't be able to perform on the same stage that their father, grandparents, and great-grandparents performed on. We're looking forward to doing Ragtime next summer, and doing it at the old grocery store was going to be special. Now, it looks like that might not happen. Oh well. Times change, and so must we.
Yes, that's a shame for sure. But think of it as Aidan and Regan getting in on a new BLT with the new generation of actors.
Hey, they even have their audition songs down. ;-)
M
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