The headline says it all: “Theatre on Fire: Children’s Theatre Company Burns.” But how did the Bee Hippo Children’s Theatre Company go from putting on a show to going up in flames?

Three days before the fire, we meet Nick, a theater employee and nephew of the company’s executive director, Mary. While Nick and the rest of the staff scramble to keep the latest production on track, chaos seems determined to take center stage. There’s a highly invested parent with opinions, a child who keeps getting stuck in the chimney, and a leading lady who refuses to share a dressing room until her demands are met.

Meanwhile, Mary is doing everything she can to keep the struggling theater company alive—while quietly putting her own needs somewhere near the bottom of the list.

As one ridiculous problem gives way to another, the situation spirals toward the inevitable conclusion we already know is coming: the theater burns.

Written by local playwright Nick Keresztury, Theatre on Fire is a fast-paced comedy packed with the kind of backstage chaos, impossible personalities, and theatrical disasters that anyone who has ever been involved in a production will recognize.

Whether you’ve been onstage, backstage, in the audience, or simply survived a rehearsal—you’ll see something familiar in this wonderfully chaotic look at community theater.

Come find out exactly how it all goes up in flames.