Fire damages theater; help with repairs sought
Group hopes community will assist it in raising $10,000 to fix damage
After a fire damaged Riverside Community Players’ historic theater, the group is asking for the community’s help to raise $10,000 to help it recover.
Board member Lynne Ennis said no one was in the theater at the time and praised the Riverside Fire Department for its quick response on the night of Feb. 22. The blaze was reported after 11 p.m.
“The damage could have been so much worse,” she said.
The fire began outside, near the theater’s loading dock and damaged the building’s roof and siding, as well as a storage container with the group’s furniture and props. The furniture, Ennis said, ranges from 19th-century antiques to Ikea items. The front door also was damaged that night — Ennis said it appears someone tried to force it open — and it will need repairs.
As the theater group assesses the damage and determines its next steps, the fire investigation continues.
“It appears to be humancaused at this point, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was intentional,” arson investigator Capt.
Ray Mendoza said Monday.
Fire investigators have identified a person of interest and will try to interview that person, Mendoza said.
Meanwhile, a production of “Oz,” written by Patrick Shanahan and directed by Ron Milts, will go on in spite of the blaze.
The show is set to open Friday and run through March 12. Through an “amazing stroke of luck,” Ennis said the troupe had removed the furniture needed for the production to arrange the set before the fire burned the storage container.
Riverside Community Players, a nonprofit organization, has performed continuously since 1925 and has been in the same theater since the 1950s. The building, located downtown, next to Riverside Community Hospital “is really special to us,” Ennis said.
“We really need the community’s help,” she said.
The Riverside Community Players has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to seek donations for building repairs, replacing items and enhanced building security.
As of Friday morning, the group had raised nearly $8,000 of its $10,000 goal.
Donation information: bit.ly/3IO1xoc