An historic midtown Kansas City theater is reopening after a devastating fire destroyed it about a year and a half ago.

Kansas City

The historic Warwick Theater in Kansas City has reopened to the public after being closed for over a year due to a significant fire that caused extensive damage, particularly in the back of the building where costumes and office space were located. The fire was traced to improperly disposed staining rags, which ignited in the trash and spread through the rear staircase.

Since the incident, the theater has undergone major repairs, including new fire alarms and smoke detectors, and has resumed hosting performances. The Met theater company, which calls the Warwick home, plans to return to regular productions soon. The reopening is seen as a major step forward for the local arts community, with the theater aiming to remain a shared space for all.

Historic midtown theater reopens after devastating fire

Okay, year and a half ago, an early morning fire that we had right here on this show destroyed a lot of Kansas City's historic Warwick Theater on Main Street. Since then, the theater company has been working to repair and renovate the inside and they're ready to welcome back an audience. Now, case HB 41 news reporter Claire Bradshaw covered the fire that morning follows up now live outside. Claire Lindsay, I've been talking about all throughout the morning about this story where it doesn't feel like it's been a year and a half since this happened. Bring us up to speed. Yeah. And I remember it very well because it was a chief's red friday. You guys. So from the front, the damage, you really couldn't see it. That's because a lot of the fire damage was in the back of the theater and for over a year, the marquee outside on the street view red, we will be back. And now that science been switched out, signaling that the theaters open for all yet again. Well, welcome back. This is a whole lot better than the last time I saw you. It sure is, is going to be a big hit to the theater community. I first met Karen Paisley in 2024. It was the morning of February 7th fire roared out of the back of the Warwick Theater. This is definitely not going to kill the company will be a big challenge and we'll have to rise to the occasion. I came back a few weeks later to see just how bad the damage was. Costumes crowded into the theater area covered in soot, melted smelling of smoke, no working lights in the windows were boarded up yet Paisley and remain steadfast to see the people that we did it for and we'll be back here. This is not anything we are giving up. The fire was mainly in the back area where they stored their costumes and had office space. But the smoke took over just about the entire building after months of repair and holding rehearsal and shows elsewhere. The Warwick is just about ready. There are a lot more safeguards in place. Um, there are two big, big fire alarms here now. Um, the kind that make huge noises and smoke detectors in the vents. So it's really a non smoking building and we're not kidding. There were some obstacles going back and forth with insurance trying to salvage as much history as possible and some break ins. But Paisley says they're ready to pull the curtain back and turn their makeshift lighting system on. The Warwick was never intended just to be for one little theater company. We got it to be our home, but it was our home to share with everybody else. So now what we hope is that everybody will come enjoy it. Okay. So as you see on the marquee, you guys evil dead. The musical is playing now through august 23rd. And then Karen Paisley anticipates that her theater company, the Met will be back in production around mid september. When the fire happened, the Warwick was already going through phased renovations that they've been doing since they took, you know, space up here in 2015. So they're ready to get that started back and soon get started on phase two. What a show to get back into it. Claire, do we know what caused the fire? Yes, we do. So I asked Karen that because when we followed up with her last year, they hadn't yet figured that out. And what she said is that the night before late at night, they had been doing some staining in the back area and they thought they had cleaned up everything as they should. But staining that that is a combustible substance and they had thrown away the staining rags and they caught fire in the trash and then it just spread up and down that staircase in the back. Wild to think about. Claire, thank you very much.

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