[A] 60-year-old water main pipe burst in the early hours of Monday morning, flooding the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts’ FlynnSpace venue and destroying curtains, lighting equipment, and sound instruments.
Anna Marie Gewirtz, the new executive director of the Flynn Center, said the damage to the black-box theater in downtown Burlington is significant.
“The FlynnSpace floor needs to be completely replaced. All the lighting equipment needs to be replaced, the curtains, the drapes, the sound equipment, all in need of replacement. And of course, carpets, sheetrock, and things like that,” Gewirtz said. “We have it all catalogued and have a plan to get things back in working order and even better than before.”
The Flynn’s main stage and historic theater were not affected by the flooding, according to Gewirtz.
There is no estimate yet on the cost to replace the damage. Gewirtz is working with the center’s insurance company to come up with figure.
While there is a considerable recovery effort ahead, Gewirtz said she is grateful the situation was not as bad as it might have been.
“No people were involved. It could have been in the middle of February. It could have been a lot worse,” she said.
Gewirtz also said the timeline to fix the damage is fluid. She is optimistic renovations will be done in time for scheduled performances at the end of September and hopes they will be complete no later than early October, when Vermont Stage is set to put on a production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
“We are still making an assessment whether we will be able to get everything done,” Gewirtz said. “Since the beginning of this week we’ve been working around the clock.”
The first performance in the FlynnSpace since the flooding will be local comedian Josie Leavitt on September 20 followed by the Egyptian musician Mohamed Abozekry on September 22.
Gewirtz, who just took took over the executive director’s position last month, said she is staying positive in her first test of leadership.
“I’ve been joking this week that it’s been an initiation process for the new executive director. There’s nothing like a crisis to bring your team together and what has been impressed on me is how much people care about the Flynn and don’t want something like this to knock us down,” Gewirtz said.
On Saturday, the Burlington performing arts center hosted its fourth annual Over the Edge fundraiser, which raises money for the center’s arts education program.
