The Granada Theatre Rises from a Flood

No one was injured when a cascade of water destroyed the stage at the Granada Theatre on January 24, but a few tears were shed at the extent of the damage, said Stephanie Roberson, the theater’s stage production and operations director. Nevertheless, the staff at the nearly 100-year-old theater in downtown Santa Barbara has worked to repair, renew, and even improve the flooring in time for the Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship performance this Sunday, March 3.

When she was first allowed into the theater that afternoon in January, Roberson said she watched the massive rear curtain slowly sink from the weight of water. As the staff assessed the damage, they saw that it was confined to the stage, while the orchestra pit, its lifts, the upholstered seats, and the decor that gilds the interior of the Granada were spared. “I’d never liked the plastic projection screen and scrims before this,” said Roberson, as they served to protect much of the theater from being hit with water.

The stage is an intricate structure, sprung for dancers with 1×2 strips of wood and soft rubber squares, insulation, dual layers of plywood, and now surfaced with what looked like hundreds of rectangles of Harlequin RockSure flooring. “We were actually able to improve the surface of the stage,” said Roberson with a smile, clearly relieved that the event had not been an absolute catastrophe.

The water that dripped into the basement could be mopped up, and the grand and the baby grand down in the “piano barn” were undamaged, as were the dressing rooms, dance rehearsal space, and other structures beneath the stage. Miraculously, the massive curtain dried out and was able to be used again.

They’d been 98 percent certain they’d be able to open again by the first of March: “And here we are!” Roberson said on Thursday.

In January, the crew had been setting up for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo to dance in two days’ time, when the balance in the rigging hit critical mass. The rigging rises about 70 feet over the stage and is the mechanism that allows enormous curtains and backdrops to magically “fly” up and down behind or before the performers. Moveable bridges, called “battens,” over the stage hold the long lengths of “soft goods” and are counterbalanced by weights on ropes in the wings.

What happened, explained Dave Johnson, the Granada’s VP of operations, is the counterbalance was heavier than the “leg,” or narrow curtain, on one of the battens. When deployed, the batten flew upward, rushed past its stop, and smashed into some of the fire sprinklers in the steel grid over the stage. Water doused the stage for about 45 minutes before it could be shut off.

While the total cost of repairs has yet to be totaled, the closure has taken a toll. The Granada lost the remaining season’s bookings with UC Santa Barbara’s Arts & Lectures — the performance powerhouse had to relocate its Granada season to other venues — but the downtown theater will continue to host UCSB’s Economic Forecast; a healthy music, theater, and comedy lineup; as well as its own 100th birthday in April, which will include a block party on State Street, said Jill Seltzer, Granada’s VP of advancement.

On Thursday, the Granada Theatre was coming back to life. Crews were busy vacuuming sawdust out of the seats in the auditorium, while stagehands onstage and 60 feet up on the bridge were organizing the battens, rigging lines, counterbalances, legs, and lighting with care — all to transform a black box into a glowing set by Sunday’s rock ‘n’ roll show. “I love making magic every day,” Roberson said with satisfaction.