Following up the news from Saturday that the Triumvirate Theatre burned down and is a total loss, Theatre Executive Director Joe Rizzo spoke to KSRM explaining his intent to rebuild the theatre.
Rizzo said, at the time of the fire, he was at home reading when he received a phone call from a friend saying the theatre is on fire. He arrived to the site of the fire about 15 minutes after it was reported at about 3:17 a.m. Saturday morning. The fire is under investigation with the state fire marshal’s office.
Initial estimates place losses near $500,000. Luckily for Rizzo, the building was insured, “I just met with our insurance agent and so I’ll be meeting with their insurance adjusters to look at the building and figure out what the settlement is going to be. We have every intention of rebuilding the theatre. None of the contents, nothing that the theatre owned, none of the equipment, none of the seats, none of that is covered by any insurance. You know, of course, musical instruments, we had a piano there, we had band instruments, we had microphones, all of the furniture, none of that’s insured.”
The outpouring of support from the Kenai Peninsula has been overwhelming, according to Rizzo. “Currently, right now, we’ve reached out to the Rasmuson Foundation about the rebuild and some other things and support. They’re very supportive. We have a good relationship with them. As far as donations go, we’ll be setting up very soon. Monetary cash donations, we’ll be setting up an account with the Alaska Community Foundation through the Kenai Peninsula Foundation, they’ll be able to manage those funds and you can pay online with that. That’ll be a specific fund set up. The other thing I do want to mention the Kenai Performers have, really the whole community, the whole theatre community all around the state, has reached out and been very supportive. Kenai Performers have been soliciting donations while they’re doing their show, which is very, very kind of them. I’m very hopeful that we’ll rise from the ashes literally on this.”
Keep up to date with the Triumvirate Theatre through their Facebook page by clicking here.
