WESTERN BUREAU:

Petty thieves continue to plague the Fairfield Theatre in Montego Bay, St. James, raping the facility of valuable items and wracking up thousands of dollars in repair and replacement costs.

Last week, the theatre was broken into for the third time this year when burglars forced their way into the building, leaving a trail of damage.

"Each burglary presents us with major setbacks as there is damage to the building that requires costly repairs - the installation of burglar bars in strategic areas, and then the expense of replacing the stolen items," stated Douglas Prout, the theatre's chairman.

In a statement, Prout bemoaned the fact that, though the award-winning theatre had made significant contributions to cultural development and theatrical entertainment in western Jamaica for over 30 years, petty criminals have been assaulting the proud Montego Bay institution.

According to the statement, the thieves destroyed the wooden door at the emergencyfire exit to the rear of the building to gain entry and systematically removed all the electrical equipment from the elevated tech booth.

"This loss is particularly painful and debilitating as the theatre can no longer serve its patrons without a lighting board, the two power packs, the amplifiers, mixer, CD player, DVD player, tape deck, etc. which were stolen," Prout said.

Great priority

"Consequently, as a matter of great priority, two things need to be done.

"We need to make the building secure again and put in place better preventative measures to drastically reduce the ease and frequency with, which we are now targeted," stated Prout. "We need to replace the essential electronic equipment to at least be in operation once more."

The series of incidents has left the theatre strapped for cash, resulting in the friends of the theatre seeking financial assistance from the general public to restore the facility and equipment to its former state.

"We are appealing to you to use your good influence to assist Montego Bay's only little theatre to recover from these dastardly attacks. We would be very grateful for whatever level of financial assistance you are able to provide us with at this unfortunate time," Prout said in a statement.

noel.thompson@gleanerjm.com