AFTER spending thousands of dollars and doing a lot of work, the folks at the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Theater, which is part of the Department of Education, have been informed by the Fire Department that it wasn’t enough. The curtain will not go up on this weekend’s planned production, "The Mousetrap," a murder mystery by Agatha Christie. The GATE Theater building cannot pass inspection.

There are eight parts in the play, and the actors come from five of our high schools, according to one of the GATE mentors, Ray Twenter. He and Ann Gorby have been working with incipient thespians for years, putting on wonderful productions at the GATE Theater on the former Agaña Naval Air Station grounds at Tiyan. The building doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it has served the program well.

For this production, which would have opened the season, the kids were actually rehearsing outside for the last few days, after the theater building failed an initial inspection. But work on the set was continuing, and after postponing the opening by one week while they feverishly tried to bring the old building into compliance, they hoped for an opening this weekend.

The two mentors and many volunteers pulled more than 100 seats out of the old theater in order to avoid the requirement for a sprinkler system. The building capacity is now 299, one less than the maximum allowed without sprinklers. They also invested several thousand dollars they really didn’t have on a new fire alarm system, after the old one failed. And they spruced up the interior of the building, which actually looks pretty good. The air-conditioning works too, which is a plus.

However, as detailed elsewhere in this edition in a story by Zita Taitano, the GATE Theater just doesn’t pass Fire Department muster. Twenter and Gorby were told yesterday afternoon they could no longer use the building, at least not until a lot more deficiencies are corrected. It may be the death knell for their program, because the list is long and the money is short.

They will search for somewhere else to put on "The Mousetrap," perhaps at the University of Guam, for at least a couple of days. But they won’t have their set, or much of their enthusiasm. They feel abandoned by DOE, and beaten down by the Fire Department. A lot of sweat and tears have been invested over the years, and the building still seems serviceable. But the fire inspectors say it may no longer be safe.

Ironic, really, that "The Mousetrap" is the play on which the hammer has dropped. This Agatha Christie gem, 60 years old this month, is the longest running play in the history of London’s West End, where audiences over the years have routinely been asked not to reveal the ending. Here on Guam, sadly, we know how this story is probably going to end.

If they manage to find another venue, buy a ticket and go. These kids need your support.