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Greenbrier Valley Theatre loses decades of costumes

Charleston Gazette-Mail photo by F. Brian Ferguson Employees of the Greenbrier Valley Theatre sort through their costume collections to see what can be salvaged after last week's flooding.
Charleston Gazette-Mail photo by F. Brian Ferguson
Employees of the Greenbrier Valley Theatre sort through their costume collections to see what can be salvaged after last week’s flooding.

LEWISBURG, W.Va. — Fate, it has been said, has a strange sense of humor.

Thursday night, when the rains started in Lewisburg, the Greenbrier Valley Theatre was just beginning their second weekend of the theater company’s production of “On Golden Pond,” starring “Rockford Files” actors Stuart Margolin and Gretchen Corbett.

While the cast was telling the golden years drama, the theater company’s basement slowly began to turn into a lake.

Initially, the Greenbrier Valley Theatre staff wasn’t especially concerned.

 The theater, which was formerly a Leggett department store and was purchased almost 20 years ago, has a history of flooding some. But Valerie Pritt, publicity director for the Greenbrier Valley Theatre, said, “It was more than is normal. We do have a sump pump that’s supposed to take care of drainage issues.”

While the water flowing around Lewisburg wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in other parts of Greenbrier County, the town is situated over a vast system of caves, which was filling up because of the storms.

The water came up from the floor of the building and was rising faster than the theater company’s pump could handle…

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