Maplewood Theater Closed After Ceiling Tiles Fall

The Maplewood Theater has been temporarily closed due to some errant ceiling tiles in one of the six screening rooms.

Shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday, several tiles fell from the ceiling in one theater taking a screen curtain and structure — or grid — with them. The fall kicked up some dust that triggered the fire alarms, said theater general manager Susan Rinaldi, calling Maplewood Fire Department personnel to the scene.

"Fortunately, no one was hit by the debris," said Rinaldi. However, the incident did frighten some customers, she said.

Maplewood Code Enforcement Officer Robert Mittermaier was on scene quickly and inspected the facility — including taking a tour of the roof, said Rinaldi. Although everything appeared structurally sound, Mittermaier has closed the theater until an engineer can perform a more thorough inspection on Monday.

Rinaldi said Mittermaier told her the damage was not water-related. "Everything is dry," She said. "The roof is fine."

Rinaldi noted all remaining movie screenings for Sunday, June 12 have been canceled. She said the theater will probably be closed Monday as well.

Patch will be updating this story as more information becomes available.