Taproot Theatre Holds Post-Fire Celebration, 10/22
By: Nicole Rosky Sep. 28, 2010
One year after the arson that severely damaged-and threatened to destroy-Taproot Theatre Company's Greenwood playhouse, the theatre hosts Taproot Uncorked, a fundraising event celebrating its extraordinary post-fire year and looking ahead to the future. On October 22, Taproot Theatre and Greenwood's Vineyard Wine Shop team up at The Upper Crust's Greenwood Square for a night of pairing heroic wines and Taproot's heroic year.
Given the challenges, and ultimately victories, of the past year, the theme of heroic wines seemed appropriate. "By heroic wines, I mean wines which are victorious in their endeavor to survive all odds," says Vineyard Wine Shop owner Patrick Anderson. "With each passing year the vine's roots grow deeper and deeper into the soils, and with this comes the wisdom of age and experience."The fire in the early hours of October 23, 2009, destroyed the Eleanor Roosevelt Building-which Taproot leased to four businesses-and resulted in such extensive smoke and water damage to the theatre that Taproot was forced to shut its doors for three months and relocate performances. Having weathered multiple recessions in its nearly 35 years, Taproot's leadership had learned to persevere through the ups and downs of time, but a fire was something no one ever thought would happen."It hit as a shock, but throughout that morning I just kept thinking, 'We have to get through this. We have audiences to serve, a neighborhood we're committed to," said Taproot's co-founder and producing artistic director, Scott Nolte. "The way the Greater Seattle arts community, the Greenwood-Phinney neighborhood, and so many other friends rallied around us gave me hope that we would get through this and come out even stronger than before."
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