Theater Company Shuts Down After Set Vandalized
Dec 2, 2019, 12:12 AM | Updated: Dec 3, 2019, 7:26 pm
UPDATE: Utah Repertory Theater will be shutting down for good after seven years of operation, the theater company announced Tuesday on its website.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A new musical was supposed to debut this weekend in downtown Salt Lake, but vandalism put a stop to the show.
“American Psycho: the Musical” was scheduled to open last Saturday night at the Eccles Black Box Theater on Regent Street.
But early Saturday morning, someone vandalized the set, tagging the floor and the backdrop with profanity.
The managing director of the play says he knows who that “someone” is.
“They didn’t feel that what we were about to present that night was living up to their expectations,” said JC Carter.
Carter says the person who vandalized the set was an actor in the show.
“Yesterday in a fit of rage, from what we can tell, they quit the show. It was opening day,” said Carter. “And then they came here to gather their personal items and decided to vandalize our set.”
Instead of selling tickets Sunday night, the cast and crew were scraping paint.
“Forty years of theater and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Carter. “We’re cleaning right now. We’re hoping we can get most of the paint off. If not we’ll just re-skin it.”
Opening night had to be pushed back to next Thursday night. Carter says potential revenue lost is easily more than $3,000.
But all this drama isn’t getting the Utah Repertory Theater Company down. It’s only making them that much stronger.
“We have an old saying in the theater, everybody knows it, ‘the show must go on’.”
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office says the suspect, Ryon Sharette, admitted to vandalizing the set and say he will be screened for charges.
