The Great Flood

Out of natural disasters, we see the best and worst of everyone and everything, ourselves included. 

My undergraduate thesis (one of them) was on Communication in Disaster Situations: A comparative analysis of the emergency response and communication on 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. 

This brings me to January 9, 2012, around 3pm. A fire alarm testing company was doing their yearly inspection of all the pull stations and smoke heads located through out the 4 floor facility. Around 3pm, I heard the fire alarms go off as normal, but there was one alarm that didn't sound like the rest. I walk into the lobby still baffled, I pulled the door open to the house of the theatre and see gallons of water pouring out onto the stage. A man from the fire alarm testing company, pulled the wrong pull station inadvertently activating the sprinkler system. 

I froze, staring at the stage. I didn't know what to do. I shook my head at sprinted off to my office to call security to alert them of the situation, to send back up and facilities or anyone that could deal with the situation. Then called my director. I had absolutely no idea what to do. Stunned, can't even sum this up. I then sprinted back down, ran through the deluge curtain (more on that), to shut down the stage electrics and to move what I could (the grand piano) out of the way. 

I stood upstage next to the piano I saved from the flood. I lost it. I will say this as publicly to anyone who asks; I balled like a baby, hiccups and all. I was standing alone, on a stage that had been in place since 1927, already had significant wear and tear to it (and water damage). I watched the water gush out of the sprinkler heads all over the rigging and curtains that I had a hand in replacing in 2009-10. (A job for which bore me a reputation on campus with administrators - for good or bad). I watched the water flow through the lighting instruments and plot that I fought tooth and nail to get established. It felt like I was watching the last four years of my career flow through those sprinkler heads, splashing down to the floor. Add that with the fact that Memorial Hall is indeed my thesis project, it became gut wrenching and tear worthy.

The thoughts that ran through my mind were what is now my biggest internal battle. Before the flood, the auditorium and its essence needed to be renovated. It needed a department to love it. Not to take it because no one else would. I became so attached to that place because it was a space that no one cared for or embraced its potential. (It was like the mangey street dog.) Over the last four years, it has became a lab for me. A lighting, rigging, sound, projection lab, but also a management learning lab. What the hall was intended for was lost in a whirl of making sure the institue was bringing in enough revenue to do things it saw fit. The institute outgrew the reason for Memorial Hall's existence - a gathering place for all institute ceremonies and events. No one can own that. As I progressed with my classes and my thesis, this became painfully clear, too real. 

So now the great flood has subsided (the water was running 30-40 minutes), we're doing damage control, literally and figuratively. In the basement of Memorial Hall is the PI (Pratt Institute) Cafe (shop), the water from the stage leaked down. That seems to have been minimal damage. The stage electrical system checked out A-ok! 1/25 we have vendors coming into check out the curtains and rigging. There are still humidifiers on still on. I'm not sure if they've turned the heat back on or not. The projection screen is most likely a total loss (a 32' x 26' front projection bottom roll). 

I do know that there insurance assessors that are involved and of course our vendors. This will take time. I had to stop myself from becoming overwhelmed by asking if this was going to be a temporary fix or if it was long-term. The answer I got was long-term. I have to say that the answer, while understandable was disheartening. There is so much that needs to be fixed about Memorial Hall and this is the perfect time to address those needs, but I fear that a lot of that also comes down to having the money to do it. All the damage that was done is coverage by insurance in some form. Insurance can't help the organizational structure (budget) or lack thereof of the facility. 

Professionally, I've had to step back and take a look at what this is. Memorial Hall is one part of my job - the majority of it, but only one part. I have to move ahead. The work that goes on is not my responsibility, sure I can add my two cents, but it is not within my control and I must accept that. The fate of Memorial Hall is in the hands of a higher power (literally and figuratively). I can't let it eat away at me, more than it has. I am hoping for the best!