Merrillville, Ind. Theater To Reopen After Fire
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (CBS) -- The shows will go on. That's the word from the Star Plaza Theatre after a fire caused quite a scare there Wednesday night.
As CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports, workers spent Thursday cleaning up ahead of a very busy weekend of performances.
Charlie Blum, the theater's president and CEO, was supervising the clean up, after a stage light ignited a fire on a nearby curtain.
The New Shanghai Circus was halfway through its performance when the first 911 call went out.
"It was immediately extinguished by our sprinkler system, which we're very pleased about, for obvious reasons," Blum said. "When the fire marshal and the firemen arrived, the fire was already out."
Some 1800 patrons, performers and staff were led out without a single injury. Thursday afternoon, workers checked lights, ran cables, and scrubbed floors, which were covered with a layer of sticky soot left behind by the fire. The goal: to get back in business fast.
So what about the folks holding tickets to shows scheduled for this weekend?
"We have the team working feverishly to prepare for 'River Dance' tonight, which is a spectacular big show," Blum said. "And yet we're prepared."
The theater's floors are fine, after getting pretty wet Thursday night. The big weekend lineup also includes Abba and American English.
Rehearsals were under way by Thursday evening. You can get a refund for Wednesday night's show by returning to where ever you bought your tickets.
