Despite Recent Bankruptcy, Fire Damage, Surflight Opens Season With High Hopes For The Future

After fire damage to one if its buildings just ten days ago, and bankruptcy more than a year ago, Surflight Theatre starts its 63rd season today.

The , which affected mainly the Gables Inn structure on 112 Centre Street, also damaged the roof of its neighboring building belonging to Surflight, which accommodates its Show
Place Ice Cream Parlour, a costume shop and nine bedrooms meant for housing 20 performance and production staff.

"It was the roof to what we call 'the tech house," said Tim Laczynski, Surflight's executive producer. "It’s sustained some fire damage, and as a result of
the smoke and the water damage the entire house is uninhabitable."

However, only six Surflight staff members were affected at the time, and Long Beach Island resident Kevin Stretch of Stretch Cleaning & Restoration in Brant Beach, offered
to house all six people who have been displaced, Laczynski said.

The theater owns five buildings, including its main structure with a 450-seat auditorium, as well as others that house staff members and contain administrative offices.

Insurance adjustors and contractors will be visiting the site tomorrow, April 19, to assess the damage, Laczynski said.

Meanwhile, according to Roy Miller, Surflight's producer and artistic director, all shows will take place as planned, beginning with The Rat Pack Revue at 2 p.m. today,
a look back at three amazing performers who were the talk of Las Vegas in their time, featuring Nick D'Egidio (Frank Sinatra), Allen Gregory(Sammy Davis, Jr.)
and Mark Verabian (Dean Martin), along with the sounds of The Dry Martini Orchestra.

Nostalgia and family-friendly performances will be the themes of this season, Miller said. Other performances will include "Annie," "The Sound of
Music," "All I Ask of You: A Tribute To Llloyd Webber" and "Once Upon A Time in New Jersey," an original production, which Miller describes as "Happy Days" meets "The Sopranos."

"The new musical is the fun part," Miller said. "It gives actors the opportunity to create a role, other than just recreate the roles they’ve seen. We'd love to do this every year -- at least one original musical."

When at this time last year the beloved performing arts non-profit in Beach Haven, was asking the community for support having just re-emerged with new leadership out of  a , local residents responded with both donations and robust attendance.

"Last year, when I got down there, I didn’t know until I showed up what state the theater was in, and it was pretty darn grim," Miller said. "We had that cry for public support that helped get us through. We had to make a lot of compromises everywhere."

Now, the organization is asking the public to continue being there for Surflight as it faces what it hopes to be a future of more than mere survival -- a future of growth and new artistic opportunities.

As a producer, Miller said he must continue "looking at the bottom line while trying not to compromise the artistic integrity."

The money-saving measures at Surflight include having actors perform in multiple shows, and having fewer new productions for now.

"Annie" and "The Sound of Music" for example, will run for five weeks, the longest show run in the theater's history.

"The largest group of people on the island are the one-week rental vacation folks, and for us this means every week, an entirely new audience," Miller said.
"We're hoping doing this for a while will help increase revenue while reducing expenses; the only downside is the loyal long-time Surflight regulars who used to come every three weeks."

"But we're trying to fix the theater, so we can eventually go back to three-week seasons," Miller added.

To find out more about Surflight's scheduled performances this season, visit the theater's website .