Things looked bleak for St. Louis Shakespeare Festival in the immediate wake of the tornado that tore through St. Louis on May 16.
The troupe was planning to kick off its annual summer show in Forest Park on May 28.
But hulking trees that stood as landmarks for decades had been ripped out by their roots and lay sideways on the grass of Shakespeare Glen. Scaffolding made of steel pipes two inches thick, meant to hold lights and sound equipment, was toppled. Lights were smashed.
Most distressingly, the show’s elaborate set – by some measures, larger and more complicated than any the theater company had used before – was blown to pieces.
“Our set was in splinters on the ground,” Artistic Director Tom Ridgely said.
Yet as he spoke six days after the vicious storm, Ridgely stood near a fully rebuilt set while actors rehearsed the show.
His is one of several St. Louis arts organizations moving forward this week after the tornado interfered with its plans.
The Shakespeare troupe sustained damage that totalled “in the high five-figures,” Ridgely said. But after the pieces were collected from the ground and sent back to the set shop for reassembly, the show will go on.
At the Missouri History Museum nearby, the tornado did about $500,000 worth of damage, which the institution’s leaders expect to be covered by property insurance. A panel discussion was underway in the museum’s auditorium when the tornado struck, knocking out the building’s power and blowing out windows.
After making sure no one had been hurt, staff members turned their attention to protecting the museum’s collection, which does not respond well to moisture or rapid temperature shifts. Windows were boarded up and emergency generators were soon humming.
“We were fully focused on protecting those artifacts,” President and CEO Jody Sowell said.
The museum closed its doors to the public for one week and reopened Friday, the day after power was fully restored to the building. But it will take about a year to complete repairs to the museum and its Library & Research Center nearby on Lindell Avenue, Sowell said.
The library remains closed, but the work hasn’t stopped. Historian Amanda Clark promptly posted an article on the research center’s website about the history of St. Louis tornadoes, and museum archivists are collecting video and photos of the May 16 event for the collection.
On the Wednesday after the tornado, organizers converted the planned opening night of Live Art Market, a weekly arts crawl at the City Foundry in Midtown, into a tornado relief event.
Cars lined up outside the entrance to the dining and shopping district as volunteers unloaded supplies destined for tornado survivors in need. Buskers collected tips and donated them. With support from shop owners and raffle ticket sales, the event raised more than $20,000 to be distributed among ForTheCultureSTL, St. Louis Early Childhood Tornado Response Team, the Craft Alliance, MADE Makerspace and LovetheLou.
Craft Alliance Executive Director Bryan Knicely stood near a potter who was demonstrating his skills and spoke with concerned supporters of the organization.
The tornado toppled the 30-foot chimney on the organization’s building, which crashed through the concrete ceiling above the nonprofit’s offices. But it did not harm the gallery, studios or store.
MADE Makerspace a few doors down was also damaged along with other organizations in the Delmar Maker District, and some nearby restaurants were destroyed.
Craft Alliance administrative staff members are temporarily working elsewhere and classes were suspended due to the building losing power, but the organization plans to kick off its summer camps on June 2, as scheduled.
“We are the creative sector, so we will be creative and figure it out,” Knicely said.
As the tornado tore along Delmar Boulevard, it also ripped off a large section of roof from the Union Avenue Christian Church, which during summer months is home to the Union Avenue Opera.
In the cramped attic above the ceiling of the church’s central room, Artistic Director and Conductor Steve Schoonover pointed up at plywood boards that patched up a gaping hole in the roof.
“I was the first person to come up here [after the tornado] and I was just astounded. This was all open to the sky,” Schoonover said.
Falling roof tiles punctured several small holes in the ceiling below. Directly beneath that sits the space where the opera company performs.
An initial assessment suggested that Schoonover would need to postpone or otherwise alter the season, due to open on July 5. But crucially, there was no damage to the wooden support beams that make it possible to hang heavy lighting equipment from the ceiling safely, he said.
Opera leaders were waiting for the results of an engineering report, but cautiously optimistic that the season would go on as scheduled.
“When our patrons come, the windows will still be boarded up. It's not going to be pretty in here. We'll still probably have those holes in the ceiling. But it's safe, and so we're able to move forward,” Schoonover said, taking another look at the damage.
“That's the hope.”
