KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City's historic Folly Theater reopened Saturday, just one week after vandals caused an estimated $750,000 in damage during an early morning break-in on October 24.
Audio engineer Dez Martin, who has worked at the theater for five years, had to use replacement equipment after vandals damaged the soundboard the venue had relied on for years.
“We can't actually use it to mix a show because a lot of the different channels and parts of it aren't functional,” Martin said.
The emotional impact hit staff hard when they discovered the destruction.
“How are we going to continue?” she recalled asking herself. “I was nauseated. I was just 100% devastated.”
The price tag for a new soundboard is steep — $36,000 — and that’s just a fraction of the total loss.
Insurance is covering most of it, but theater management expects to spend between $50,000 and $100,000 out of pocket, according to Rick Truman, president and CEO of the Folly Theater.
“It’s going to be a hardship,” Truman said.
Brian Williams, the Folly's developement director, said it will take months to recover from the damages.
After being forced to cancel last weekend's presentation, the theater was able to provide its scheduled programming this weekend.
Staff replaced destroyed electronic bar screens with paper signs and worked around damaged equipment.
“We’re trying to just act as business as usual,” Truman said.
The theater is counting on strong support from the community.
New York-based saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, who performed at Saturday's reopening concert, expressed immediate support when she learned about the vandalism.
“As soon as I heard what happened, I was like — we are for sure going to have the concert," Benjamin said. “Someone doing something like that at a time like this shows pretty bad character. But I’m hoping that when something bad happens, it uplifts the community and brings more success and more good things.”
Jamie Myers, a season ticket holder for the Folly’s jazz series, said she was happy to see the theater open again.
“Oh, I had every confidence they’d be able to put it together — and they have,” Myers said. “It's such a historic building and means so much to the community. It's sad that someone did that.”
While staff work to restore everything, Folly employees remain hopeful that incidents like this won’t happen again.
“The eyes of the city are on this building, and I think that somebody who would consider doing that would think twice,” Truman said.
Williams said the vandals won't stop them.
KCPD says the investigation remains ongoing. A department spokesperson said detectives are making progress, however "they could still use the public’s help with any information about who may be involved."
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KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
