It was an event that many feared.

On early Sunday morning the former American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Ct burned to the ground.

I covered the ups and (mostly) downs of the theater since the ‘70s when Michael Kahn was artistic director, followed by Zoe Caldwell and then as a series of aborted attempts to keep the place open.

Several years ago I did an on stage interview at a fundraising event in Stratford for the theater with Christopher Walken who performed at the theater during its glory days. Here are some pictures of that event as well as pictures of an outdoor show that sued the grounds several years ago when the building was shuttered.