Santa Rosa High School theater trashed by Halloween vandals days before opening night

The 24 students in Victoria Carpenter’s Santa Rosa High School theater class started working on their fall production of “Trojan Women” back in August.

Monday night, four days before the show was set to open, vandals broke into the high school auditorium and trashed it.

When Carpenter walked in just after 8 a.m. Tuesday, she found smashed light bulbs, microphones and CDs, destroyed props, and some props she couldn’t find at all - they’d been stolen.

“I’m disappointed, I’m angry,” she said.

“It’s terrible,” said Principal Brad Coscarelli. “It’s pretty heartbreaking, actually, because the students have been working really hard, and they have this show opening on Friday. They’re trying to repair the damage. ... It’s just sad.”

Coscarelli said the police were contacted, but as of now there are no leads, nothing on surveillance tape, and no one has come forward.

The school is offering a $100 reward for anyone with information about what happened Halloween night.

Sam Gleason, 16 and a junior at SRHS, spent ?40 to 50 hours in his garage hewing all the swords, spears and a triton from wood.

In fact, on Monday, he announced to the class he had finally finished the last one.

Only one sword was salvageable from the wreckage; the rest of the prop weaponry was ruined and will have to be re-created in time for opening night.

Carpenter said a number of teachers came forward Tuesday offering their classes to help make repairs and help in other ways, if needed.

“It’s stressful for the kids, too, but it’s also brought the cast together to really re-energize themselves, refocus, and just look at what can be done to make it even better, and how we can be stronger through this,” she said. “They’re such a strong class anyway.”

Sami Kline, 17 and a junior, is stage manager and also works on tech for the show.

“It’s really infuriating,” she said. “It’s just - god - you know, we’ve put so much work into this show, and to see it thrashed in one night is ridiculous. Because you know it’s just like stupid teenagers who came in looking for something to do. I don’t know if they have something against the theater department and ArtQuest, or if they were just drunk and looking for fun. It just sucks because we’ve put so much time into this show. We’re here until 6 every night. We come in on weekends working on production. To see it just killed like this really sucks.”

“Trojan Women” is a Greek play by Euripides that centers on the fall of Troy, and what then happens to the women who are left behind after their husbands are killed or forced into slavery.

The show is still set to open Friday, with performances at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, as well as on Nov. 10, 11, and 12.

On Sunday Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, performances are set for 2 p.m.

Tickets are available at the box office, and are $5 for students and $10 for adults.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 707-521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.