Burglars cleaned out sound equipment and power tools Tuesday night at the Ronald E. Bright Theatre, a Windward theater that serves dozens of public schools and communities across Oahu.
“It’s pretty devastating,” said Karen Meyer, theater director at the Castle Performing Arts Center, where the theater, named after the late director Ron Bright, is located. “The kids worked so hard. It’s like their second home. They spend hours and hours and hours here. They feel so violated.”
She estimates roughly $10,000 worth of sound equipment, including a sound board, speakers and monitors, and power tools for building sets, was stolen sometime after 9 p.m. Tuesday and before 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The upcoming musical “Annie Junior,” being performed by fifth- to eighth-graders from Castle High School feeder schools in Kaneohe, is scheduled to begin Feb. 24.
“The show will go on,” Meyer said. “How can you do a show about Annie, who says, ‘The sun will come out tomorrow,’ and cancel it? People will say, ‘What? You can’t cancel that.’”
As word spread Wednesday, Meyer received offers from Windward Community College’s Paliku Theatre and Kaimuki and Kapolei high schools to lend equipment, and she expects others will call. “The theater community will not let our kids suffer,” Meyer said, adding that replacements will come out of the center’s box-office budget.
There was no evidence of forcible entry, and the building was secured, she said.
Anyone wishing to make donations may call the box office at 233-5626 and leave a message. Anyone with tips is asked to call police at 911.
