Copper theft leaves Seattle's Taproot Theatre scrambling to survive
After surviving an arson, a natural gas explosion and a pandemic, Greenwood's Taproot Theatre company has a new storm to weather: copper wire theft.
Someone scaled the building and stripped two of three air conditioners of their copper wire, leaving the theater, celebrating its 50th anniversary, scrambling to raise $400,000 for an HVAC overhaul.
This vandalism and theft is threatening to shut us down once again, but we will persevere with the help of our friends and neighbors," Producing Artistic Director Karen Lund said in a news release.
The theater, at 204 N. 85th St., discovered the theft on April 11, but because they didn't have cameras on their roof, they don't know exactly when the wire was stolen.
They've jerry-rigged the one remaining unit to cool the performance space and purchased two portable AC units. But Lund is worried the Band-Aid fix will cause the theater to shut down temporarily this summer, as hot temperatures and production lighting don't mix well.
"We think come June, end of June, beginning of July, when we're running acting studio classes all day long and running our musical every night, we're not going to be able to keep that cool with just one air conditioner and the portables," she said.
Lund said it'll cost about $130,000 to replace all three air conditioners at Taproot. While only two were stripped, she said it doesn't make sense to buy only two units and keep one 30-year-old system that may need replacing in the near future. It's unclear whether the theater's insurance will cover the repairs.
The rest of the goal is for a cushion in the event the theater has to pause programming. Lund said it would be "devastating" if the theater had to suspend operations. In the Seattle theater ecosystem, if one theater stops being able to cast actors, they may leave the area to find work elsewhere.
"There's very little margin for error," Lund said. "And the fact that we have been on track, and doing well, is great, but it doesn't, it doesn't make room for a blow like this. … We're not a big theater, like the (Seattle) Rep. Those theaters sometimes will have emergency funds or endowments. We're a much smaller organization. We don't have an endowment or an emergency fund."
Seattle police did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the theft Wednesday.
Copper wire theft has plagued Seattle in recent years, causing light rail delays and other infrastructure glitches. This year lawmakers in Olympia proposed a bipartisan bill that would have clamped down on the scrap metal market, but it died before it got a vote on the Senate floor.
During its production season, Taproot brings business to the Greenwood Avenue strip as theatergoers often dine at local businesses before and after shows. The strip saw the negative impact earlier this year when the theater canceled a few shows, according to the release.
"We are so lucky to have Taproot Theatre in PhinneyWood," Phinney Neighborhood Association Small Business Advocate Chris Maykut said in the release. "In an era where small, local theater is struggling to survive and produce compelling programming, Taproot is a wildly successful anomaly."
A donation to the fundraiser, Lund said, goes beyond air conditioning.
"The patrons who are going to be coming and enjoying the shows, but all of those same families and groups of people are going to be in our neighborhood, experiencing Greenwood, shopping at the stores, eating at the restaurants, buying coffee in the area," Lund said. "The reverberation of that gift is going to go much further than just, 'I bought an air conditioner.'
Chloe Woodward, a spokesperson for Taproot, said in an email that the fundraiser had raised $55,000 as of Wednesday.
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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 6:37 AM.