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Copper Theft Hits Community Theater COLUMBIA, MO (KBIA) - Copper theft is becoming an increasingly common occurrence in mid-Missouri, and one location recently faced more that just a copper theft. Columbia Police responded to a theft at the Maplewood Barn Community Theater around six Tuesday evening.

The thieves stole copper wiring, speakers, microphones and cables, all adding up to about two to three thousand dollars. MU Journalism Professor Byron Scott is on the theater's board of directors. He says it's just something you have to deal with when working in a public space.

"I've been doing shows out at Maplewood for 20 years. And the last couple of years have been worse than anytime that I can remember, in terms of vandalism and break-ins."

The theft has come at a particularly bad time for the theatre, which plans on celebrating its 35th Anniversary in two weeks with a dress rehearsal performance of King Lear. Scott says the theater directors are exploring options for replacing the stolen sound equipment.

But what if the right equipment doesn't make it to Columbia on time?

"If we don't get all the sound equipment that we needed, we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way, the way William Shakespeare did it when he wrote this play hundreds of years ago - the sound of the human voice unaided."

So, for the Maplewood Barn Theatre's 35th year, the show must go on.
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