Fire this morning heavily damaged the Shreveport Little Theatre, a landmark community theater for more than 80 years.
Firefighters said the blaze started in an area at the back of the building where an addition to the theater was being built. The fire spread to the original theater building, although firefighters were able to save one wing of the Tudor-style building, Fire Chief Brian Crawford said.
The fire was devastating to those who got to act in local theater.
Shea Carson, who acted in performances at Little Theatre, said Little Theatre "gave me an opportunity to express my talent that I've always wanted to do with musicals. My heart and soul is in this building."
Crawford said the fire started about 9:30 a.m. after construction workers had been doing welding work on the addition. A worker who spotted the fire while the others were on a break tried to put it out with a water hose and a fire extinguisher but it spread quickly, Crawford said.
The back of the theater was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.
Shreveport Little Theatre is located on Margaret Place just down the street from Christus Schumpert medical center. It is in its 87th season and the theater opened its Margaret Place location in 1927.
The theater was damaged by another fire in the mid-1980s. The expansion work would have doubled the size of the theater.
No one was injured.
Janie Kalee, who has worked in the theater's ticket office for 10 years, was on her way to work when she heard about the fire.
"I was praying that it wasn't the Theater -- that it was some kind of horrible mistake," she said.
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