Community helping St. Petersburg City Theatre recover from Hurricane Milton

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Despite a pandemic, economic depressions and even a hurricane, the St. Petersburg City Theatre has kept the doors open.

"For the community, this is a place to gather, to express yourself, to feel like you have a safe space," St. Petersburg City Theatre Board President Stefanie Lehmann said.

Hurricane Milton has provided the newest obstacle for the nearly century-old community theatre, one of the oldest in the state. The storm ripped off portions of the roof, allowing rainwater to enter the building.

"For all of us and for many in this community, you have that moment of total shock and the feeling of helplessness, of this is so big. Where do you even start to fix this?" Lehmann said. "So many of the things that are broken are so beyond our technical abilities, our financial abilities."

The damage could have been worse. The theatre’s lone full-time employee, Kevin Crowell, was sheltering in the concrete building during the storm. As water began to enter, he hurried to shut off electrical breakers and move sensitive equipment, avoiding a potential fire.

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"I think for several of us on the board, there was that moment of can we, do we have to cancel all the shows? But for us, the mission of this theater has always been to serve the community, and so we took a moment to ask ourselves, what does our community need right now? What do they want, and what do they need? And, what they needed was to get back to rehearsals, to come back to the theater as soon as possible," Lehmann said.

The first step to recovery was a volunteer community cleanup, which more than 100 people showed up to.

"It was a really incredible moment to remember what the mission is of a place like this. Yes, the theater is important, but the community part of community theater is almost the more magical part," Lehmann said.

While the stage will need to be inspected, kids have been able to continue rehearsing in a different, undamaged area. Rehearsals for Peter Pan Jr. had already started prior to the storms.

"We may not know where that show is going to be, but we're going to figure out how to do it because we are not going to take away something that brings them so much joy in this time. Same with White Christmas, we are not going to cancel Christmas at the city theater," Lehmann said. "As long as there are the people who want to be here, who want to volunteer and do shows, we are going to find a way to do them."

A new roof is the biggest need. Theatre officials are exploring different options. In addition to donations, members of the community can help by volunteering or participating in a show.

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