On Monday April 16 to Friday April 20, Austin Texas saw heavy rains and monstrous storms, and one unlucky soul stepped into Bowie’s theater, bombarded with disgusting smells and a slushy carpet, it didn’t take too long to realize that the theater had flooded.

“During the musical Tarzan, the pipes were breaking, the theater was flooding, the outlets- flaccid and useless, and that’s when I heard about the flooding; quite the re-cuss,” senior theater student Nick Genin said.

The theater’s wet status was officially announced on April 20, when Silver Star director Courtney Allison had to break the news to her team that the theater was no longer safe to perform in because of possible mold spores made evident by the stench and the mold that had already creeped onto the UIL sets. The district quickly got to work in fixing the theater.

“I was actually in the theater, working with one of the middle schools that performed in spring show, and I was stepping in soggy carpet, and it wasn’t just the smell; I was just like, ‘this isn’t safe, It isn’t safe for kids to be rehearsing in’, especially if there gonna be breathing heavy and really having to take deep breaths,” Allison said.

The Silver Stars still had the issue of putting their show up in a different venue. They eventually decided to perform in the gym, and with help from RealLife Church, AISD Fine Arts Director Greg Goodman, The Silver Star parents, Principal Stephen Kane, and the athletics department, put on the show.

“It was so incredibly refreshing to see everybody say ‘okay, let’s build a stage,’ everybody has really come to together, and it has been the biggest blessing to be a part of that. The show did go one, and it was a really spectacular show,” Allison said.

With the Silver Star’s show done, the theater’s flooding issue needs to be addressed. The problems have been identified and the Construction Department at AISD is aware and is putting together a project in early June to fix some outdated infrastructure in the theater.

“The district has been working on where we get the problems and I think we’ve narrowed it down to several different problems,” Kane said. “One of them is the back door, and we think, but we won’t know until we tear the wall up; but the drain pipes are in the wall and we think that the pipes are rotted out now and old and when there’s so much water it can’t take it out fast enough.”

Bowie has a very unique system of drainage, instead of drain pipes being outside the building, like on most houses, the drain pipes are in the wall. The drain pipes are rotted and outdated, and water is leaking through the walls.

“I feel like it should be rebuilt because we don’t have enought space backstage and we don’t have enough space for storage but I think that’s highly unlikely,” senior Andy Moe said.

One of the places where it’s the worst, is in the theater. The other problem is the back garage door that can be seen from the front parking lot, the seal no longer keeps water out.

“It’s been an ongoing problem for quite a while now, I’ve been here for almost four years and this year has definitely been the worst when it comes to flooding, mold, and animals and creatures that have been in there,” senior technical theater President Kamryn Bryce said.

Despite the numerous work orders put in by the theater department, many involving things such as a large centipede and two cases of bats in the theater, it wasn’t until more than one department began addressing the issue of the falling-apart-theater when real evidence of repair began.

“There are a lot of times where I’ll run through the theater trying to get something and trying not to gag because smells so bad, but I feel like it’s just something that we’ve been fixing, we’ve been dealing with it,” Bryce said. “So now that Silver Stars have come in and deemed it unacceptable, something is happening. But we have gone in and put in countless work orders, so it’s just interesting now that something is happening now. I think that the right people talked at the right time.”

This issue has caused a lot of raised eyebrows; with a theater this outdated that can no longer house even one-fourth of the school, should the theater be renovated or rebuilt?

“I think it would be awesome for the theater to be rebuilt, my concern would be that it would take a really long time and that we wouldn’t get to perform in the theater for over a year,” senior theater officer Paige Bradbury said. “I think that maybe it should just have extensive remodeling but there’s so many problems that it just might as well be rebuilt. I do think that we definitely don’t have enough but what we do with what we have is just a testament to how good we are.”

Compared to some of the newer schools in the district, the theater is in poor state. The front curtains are not even opened and closed for fear of them falling, storage problems are prominent- as costume and prop closets are bursting at the seams, and backstage space is limited. Even the light board still uses floppy disks.

“Every year since as long as I can remember, when we have a problem, we fix it, we put some duct tape on it, we clean it, we reorganize, we do everything we can to fix the problem as best we can,” Bryce said.

“The theater should be rebuilt because we don’t have enough space backstage and we don’t have enough space for storage but I think that’s highly unlikely,” senior theater officer Andy Moe said.

The theater department is doing everything it can to help patch up the theater. Including hosting numerous fund-raisers, like one this year to help buy a new light-board, and often students get in and get their hands dirty trying to fix problems.

“When we have a problem- we fix it, we put some duct tape on it, we clean it, we reorganize, we do everything we can to fix the problem as best we can. But this problem has grown so big that it’s not something that we can really fix anymore,” Bryce said.

However, AISD is not ignoring the problems, and Greg Goodman and the Fine Arts Department at AISD are very aware of the Fine Arts need at Bowie.

“In our last bond election the fine arts department recommended forty million dollars for renovations at Bowie High School. In that bond of recommendations there was expanding the theater, building a new band hall, taking the current band hall and turning into an orchestra space, expanding the choral space, and building two visual arts space,” Goodman said.

However, bond containing improvements for Bowie’s Fine Arts Program in almost every aspect, was denied.

“It was defeated by a very small vote, but we’re hoping that at the next bond election, it will get passed, we recognize that Bowie has the greatest need right now,” Goodman said.

Despite the disgusting current state of the theater, Bowie High School will continue to work around it and produce award-winning productions and programs- even with an ancient facility.

“If it’s renovated, it’s renovated, if it’s not we’ll keep working and we’ll keep doing’ what we’re doing because we’re Bowie and we do what we do. We look forward and we put our shoulders down and we keep working and strive to be the best,” Allison said.

Although mold growing in the theatre has caused much stress and worry, in the end with all of the belong hands that were offered the Silver Stars were still able to put on their annual spring show.

“You know it actually has been one of the most positive experiences,” Allison said. “I mean the amount of stress has been kind of ridiculous trying to make sure that the Silver Stars and the parents get what they need.”

The theater department has done what they can to fix the problem, and when the Silver Stars decided report the problem, the theater has gotten attention.

“There has been a lot of times where I’ll run through the theater trying to get something and trying not to gag it smells so bad, but I feel like it’s just something that we’ve been fixing, Bryce said. “We’ve been dealing with it. So now that Silver Stars mom’s have come in and deemed it unacceptable, somethings happening. But we have gone in and put in countless work orders, so it’s just interesting now that somethings happening. I think that the right people talked at the right time.”

It is a long overdue that the theatre department receives the construction that they deserve.

“Theres a lot of students that will complain about it, I do feel that our facilities to be kept up.,” Bryce said. “I mean we have almost a thousand people in the tech and theater programs and I feel like that should amount to something,” .

There were many volunteers doing anything they could top help minimize the workload as much as possible.

“With this kind of support, the theatre will be up and running in no time,” Alison said.