ATLANTA — Atlanta's beloved Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse is picking up the pieces after an incident they believe was the result of an arson.
According to a post on the Peachtree Street theater's website by its president and artistic director, Jeff Watkins, he was told in a frantic 2:35 a.m. phone call that "someone poured lighter fluid down the mailbox and the Tavern is on fire."
The incident happened a little more than two weeks ago. The post notes that fire damage was thankfully "negligible" - but the triggering of the theater's sprinkler system by the fire caused significant water damage.
Watkins wrote: "Basically, the small fire in our mail room triggered the sprinkler which killed the fire, but then ran for ~30 minutes until the Fire Department could shut it off. This resulted in extensive damage throughout the production spaces of our building, soaking our costume shop, virtually destroying our production offices and flooding the bar area . . . with hundreds of gallons of water ultimately pouring through our lobby and into the pit under the stage!"
His post further added it looked like a "tornado" had come through, with water saturation evident in the "walls, ceilings, carpets, desks, computers, mechanical systems . . . hundreds of yards of fabric and more."
The post notes that the theater is working with its insurance company on assessing costs, which they believe will mostly be covered. However they're still trying to raise money because "it’s just as clear that we will be on the hook for a good deal more than just our deductible."
An Instagram post on the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse account added there are two detectives working the case.
"We are just enormously grateful that no one was hurt and that the vast stock of period costumes we’ve built over thirty years remain unharmed," the post stated. "It’s mess to be sure . . . but it could have been much worse!"
The theater is also open and operating as normal at this time.