Cal Rep Company Members: Summer Series

Cal Rep company members Matt Graber (management), Lauren Morris (management), Don Ishler (lighting) and Rick Corley (lighting) spent their summer in Indiana working at the Shawnee Summer Theatre. Matt recounts his story of the early-summer flooding in the Midwest...

Matt Graber and Mike Price in front of the Shawnee Theatre. Photo by Don Ishler.

"It was around 4:00am on Sunday and a knock came at my door. I opened it and there stood Lauren Morris. 'I think we should move everyone to the theatre and out of housing.'


'Why?' I asked.


'Because a tree just fell on my room.' She replied.


We didn't move out though, because it was too late. The tornado had already passed right over us while we slept. No alarm, no warning. Just dumb luck. I still think that we got hit by that storm because another summer theatre in the area was doing 'The Scottish Play.'


That was the very beginning of probably the most challenging phase of my short history at Shawnee. It rained all day as we continued to try to get Godspell up. That night flood waters had come up in several places and flood warnings were being issued. Some decided to make the trek to the Rollison's house. The Rollison's own a gigantic mansion on the edge of Bloomfield and are also very active board members. Most did not make the trek. We were determined to stay at the theatre come what may. It is good that one of us, the local one, thought to move our cars out to a parking lot that was within walking distance but on higher ground. Our day had ended. A few of us had cracked a beer. It had been a long day. My phone rings, it's Mike Johnson. Mike is a volunteer fireman and also the owner/editor of the local paper. Yes, Bloomfield is that small.


'You are being evacuated' Mike spat out.


'Why?'


'Because the water is going to raise another three feet.' He replied. Then I had to go down the hall and tell everyone I needed them in the parking lot in twenty minutes. I had no idea how fast this was coming. I also called one of our board members who would be in the know and he had told me that the water was only going to rise three inches. That turned out to be the truth, but at the time I had to assume the worst. I asked all the company members to please unplug anything they had and to put their electronics up as high as they could get them. We all packed bags and headed out into the night. Mike met us in the parking lot and led us across about 150 yards of ankle-high water.


Mike asked me if we wanted to go to the baptist church. Sleep in a church, or sleep in a mansion. Hmmm. I said, 'Hell no, we're going to the Rollisons.' This was Sunday night. We were to tech the next day and open on Thursday. Seems God wasn't too keen on Godspell.


The next morning I rose and went out to the theatre. The water had rose high enough to get into our parking lot, I could tell that. I could not tell if it had got into the theatre. So Don Ishler, Mike Price (one of our actors) and I decided to trudge through the water. Now knee high and definitely part sewage and other funky-fun-flood-run-off. When we got to the theatre we found that it was not damaged severely. Water had seeped in and up to the first row, but had not covered any seats. The underside of the stage was also under water. The housing was untouched.


It was three days before we could really get back to the theatre. We had to have a professional mold cleaner come in to knock out all the microbes that had grown in the water that had accumulated and then receded from under the stage. We got in on Wednesday night, and opened Godspell on Saturday. Two days late. The show went on though. That was just the beginning. Shawnee 2008. Season of Dreams."


--Matt Graber, Producing Artistic Director of the Shawnee Summer Theatre

Godspell. Photo taken five days after the flood.

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