‘The show must go on:’ Early morning break-in leaves Spokane Children’s Theatre ‘deeply saddened,’ not broken

Police are asking for help to catch a burglar who broke into the Spokane Children’s Theatre, spent a couple hours inside and then made off with thousands of dollars in valuables early Tuesday morning.

The theft put the small nonprofit theater organization in a pinch.

“We’re going to be scrambling a little bit to try and figure out what we’re going to do, but the support from the community has been overwhelming already, which is so gratifying,” said theater board president Elyse Sokoloff.

Sokoloff said the suspect, who appears to be a man and has not been caught, somehow entered through a window at about 1:30 a.m. and tooled around backstage for a couple hours.

He stole wireless headset microphones, a laptop, stage manager desk items, donations from a locked case, props and cast members’ items, according to the organization’s Facebook post about the incident.

Sokoloff said the theater, at 2727 N. Madelia St., is still compiling a list of stolen items.

She said the suspect used a large, heavy pipe to bust through the drywall into the space next door. An alarm system triggered and police were called.

The drywall was patched Wednesday but still needed to be painted.

“To say that we are devastated is an understatement,” the Facebook post stated. “We are deeply saddened that our amazing cast of Tuck Everlasting is having to experience this and that an individual from our community felt they were so in need that they must steal from a nonprofit theatre.”

The cast of “Tuck Everlasting” performed Wednesday afternoon in front of a packed audience of children from area schools.

Sokoloff said the theater is performing “Tuck Everlasting” one more weekend and is rehearsing “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” set to debut next month.

Theater officials never considered canceling the shows because of the break-in, Sokoloff said.

“It’s a cliché, but it’s true: The show must go on,” she said.

The theater said its insurance may not cover the cost of all the stolen items. People can donate at spokanechildrenstheatre.org/donate.

Those who can identify the suspect, who is wearing a hat and sweatshirt in surveillance footage, or have information that could lead to the recovery of the stolen items, are asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

Despite the setback, Sokoloff said the nonprofit will continue its mission to bring theater to children and their families.

“We are the oldest theater in Spokane and we want to go on for many, many, many more years, and so we’re not going to let this stop us,” she said.