CANTON, Mich. — Local authorities are searching for the person responsible for stealing a trailer filled with thousands of dollars worth of props and set pieces for a community production of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.”
The theft happened three weeks before opening night, in a holiday heist that the Grinch himself would admire.
News of the crime shocked the suburban community of Canton, just over 20 miles west of downtown Detroit.
“I think they thought they were going to haul it away, they were going to open it up, and they were going to find tools that they could maybe sell,” June Smith, the Plymouth-Canton Ballet Company’s artistic director, told NBC News.
Smith said the stolen trailer contained a growing Christmas tree, a snow background, two fireplaces, two grandfather clocks and several additional staple set pieces.
The company hoped to celebrate its 40th anniversary of the production this year with a cast of more than 80 dancers, many of them children, from several dance studios.
As performers wondered if the show would go on, the local community stepped up to ensure it did.
A GoFundMe fundraiser raked in more than $18,000 in a matter of weeks, including donations from complete strangers.
Volunteers spent late nights building new set pieces, and other ballet companies reached out to offer assistance, the company said.
Local residents Eric Banners and Nate Van Bynen have family ties to the production and played major roles in recovering the set.
Van Bynen created the new fireplace, while Banners, whose college-age daughter performed in the show for years, built new versions of the ballet’s grandfather clocks.
“I just loved helping backstage,” Banners said. “We used to bring [the kids] when they were little, and her eyes would be big and go, ‘I want to do that one day,’ right? And she did. And now she’s back in the audience watching.”
For June Smith, “The Nutcracker” represents more than the holidays. Her mother founded the ballet company in 1984, and her daughter and grandchildren had roles in this year’s production.
“It means the world,” she said. “It’s my family, it’s ‘The Nutcracker’ family, and now it’s become the community family that has come together to put this show on.”
On opening night, young dancers with their ballet buns, rosy red cheeks and leotards were giddy with excitement backstage.
“When we all come together it’s better, because if no one ever volunteered to help, the show wouldn’t happen,” one ballerina said.
Kelly Kaminski started performing with the ballet company in 1992 as a child and returned to “The Nutcracker” as an adult to play the grandmother in the first act.
Now a marketing professional, she played a key role in bringing attention to the theft by sending out a press release to the media.
“You can look at this situation and just look at the loss, but it’s really [about] how the community has come together and really helped rebuild everything,” she said. “I’m just filled with a lot of gratitude.”
Mara Stein contributed reporting.
