Baring it all: Men strip to save theater after Hurricane Harvey
- Sunnie Lee, Brooke Sumners, Wendy Lopez
- Aug 16, 2018
- 2 min read
It’s not often someone will give you the shirt off his back, but a community theater in Port Aransas is giving up so much more. Yes, that means the pants.
The Port Aransas Community Theatre is reopening in late September, a year after Hurricane Harvey. The theater’s first show will be The Full Monty, a musical about Buffalo steelworkers stripping for their wives, a show about baring it all with a cast literally baring it all to save their theater.
Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane, struck Port Aransas on Aug. 25, devastating thousands of homes and causing an estimated $125 billion in damage to coastal communities.
In addition, it tore away the city’s children from the only source of live theater. The theater was not only a place for performance, but also connection for this community, says Ken Yarbrough, PACT’s president and youth and family services director for the city.
“There’s dozens and dozens of letters and text messages from kids,” Yarbrough says, “that when we lost this, they lost their place because this is their place to connect. This is where we have lock-ins. This is where they can come before rehearsals or after rehearsals and sit and visit with each other and don’t feel the pressure they feel in other places. So it is an important place, not just for us, but for the community.”
Before the storm struck, the theater was set to do the Wizard of Oz and High School Musical. Yarbrough says High School Musical had been discussed for almost a year.
The kids had been rehearsing and planning until Harvey hit and “there was nothing that anyone could do.” Following The Full Monty, the theater hopes to produce these shows next.
The kids are who do most of the production, adds Mike Jones, a Kingsville, Texas school principal. From acting and set production, to sound design and running the show, Jones came to support his children and many others. And in doing so, he found his place in Port Aransas and the theater, as did Lyle Mathews.
A registered nurse, Mathews brought his daughter to rehearsals for Annie. After agreeing to just stand in the chorus and background, his role evolved over time and he also integrated himself into the community.
These men face a new challenge, going “the full monty” and stripping in an effort to save their theater.
“I wear clothes to bed in the case of a fire at night and I have to run outside,” Mathews says, “and I am going to be the first to have his butt seen on stage.”
The following are a series of photos of popular areas around Port Aransas, Texas before and after Hurricane Harvey to show the damage and impact.