Huntington Audiences donate to flooded Weston Playhouse

Cast member Tom Aulino, Production Manager Todd Williams, and the cast of CANDIDE collected over $3800 in donations to benefit the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company Flood Relief Fund at CANDIDE performances on Thursday and Friday evenings of this week. To learn more about the damage to the Weston Playhouse visit facebook  or westonplayhouse.org. Here's a letter from  Producing Director Mal Ewen:

9/15/11 

Todd and Tom, 

On behalf of the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, please express our heartfelt thanks to you both, the company of CANDIDE, Michael Maso and the staff of the Huntington Theatre Company for their generosity in soliciting audience contributions following your previews the next two nights. 

As you know on August 28th the lower basement level of the Weston Playhouse received flood water of almost nine feet of water in depth as a result of Hurricane Irene. The flood water destroyed our prop shop, our new orchestra pit, all our dressing rooms, the green room, our cabaret, a restaurant (separately operated) and the restaurant kitchen. Three days before the hurricane struck, we had opened our first world premiere of a musical (called SAINT-EX, based on the life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of "The Little Prince"). Through a tremendous effort by our staff, actors, musicians and around 100 volunteers from the local community, we were able to reopen the show in a slightly restaged version five days after the storm. The theatre is facing losses of income and property that will likely be in the $400,000 range with only minimal insurance coverage.

The outpouring of support from the local community and from the professional theatre community across the country has made us very humble and very grateful. The response shows that live theatre does matter to a lot of people in this internet age. The fact that you are willing to raise money for our flood relief effort, even though many of you had probably never heard of the Weston Playhouse until a few weeks ago, reflects the generous spirit of theatre people.

Again, please accept our undying gratitude for your support!

Regards,

Malcolm

Malcolm Ewen
for the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company