For the first time in a dozen years, the melodrama &#8220Gold in the Hills” opened Friday night somewhere other than its home at Parkside Playhouse.

After the 29-year home to the community theater caught fire in the building’s electrical room June 26, Vicksburg Theatre Guild members were forced to find a temporary home for the summer season of the 70-year-old production.

They found it at Vicksburg High School.

&#8220Due to the fact they had a small tragedy of a fire, I’m just excited that I could help with this production that has been going on for so long,” Principal Charlie J. Tolliver said. &#8220I’m just glad that I could provide something that would allow that melodrama to continue to run.”

&#8220Gold in the Hills” opened Friday in the school’s auditorium to an audience of about 30, but VTG building and grounds director Garrett Wallace said members were not disappointed at the turnout.

&#8220It was a little low last night, but it was to be expected with the move and the confusion,” he said.

Wallace and nine other volunteers gathered Saturday morning at Parkside Playhouse to inventory its contents for an insurance adjuster. It was one of three such meetings the group has had since the fire.

&#8220We need to list everything that may or may not be recoverable,” Wallace said. &#8220Right now, we’re getting estimates from several companies. When that’s done, the insurance company will decide what it’s going to pay, then we’ll go from there.”

Vicksburg Fire Department officials estimated the loss of property and contents to be $90,000, but Wallace said the recovery and restoration projects would end up costing &#8220hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

&#8220It’s going to stress the limits” of our budget, he said. &#8220It’s going to be expensive.”

For example, the entire lighting system must be replaced, 247 seats that sustained smoke damage in the theater will have to be removed or repaired, and the stage must be adjusted to make room for about 60 feet of scaffolding to be used in the cleaning, sealing and painting of the theater ceiling.

&#8220The lighting, which was probably 1950s or 1960s technology, will be upgraded out of necessity,” Wallace said. &#8220And we’ll probably upgrade the kitchen and green room. As far as other upgrades, I’m trying to stay away from that.”

Smoke and water damage covered the building’s green room, electrical room, a hallway that ran behind the stage and a shop where props were built. The stage area received minimal damage. About 3,000 costumes were rendered useless.

Volunteers said they were eager to return to normalcy.

&#8220We want to feel like we are doing something,” Martin said, standing in the doorway of what used to be the electrical room. &#8220We don’t want to feel like we’re walking around waiting for the race to start.”

Wallace said the VTG needs the community’s continued support in restoring Parkside Playhouse.

&#8220We’re going to survive, and we’ve got friends in this community,” he said. &#8220We’ve had some people show interest in helping us monetarily. I’m ready to get this thing back open, but in situations like this, the going always seems agonizingly slow.”

Performances are planned at VHS on Drummond Street and Confederate Avenue at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are $5 for children and $10 for adults.

Membership fees and ticket sales fund each season of plays for the volunteer-run theater company.

To donate funds to VTG, mail payment to Parkside Playhouse Theater, 101 Iowa Ave., P.O. Box 821472, Vicksburg, MS 39182.

VTG members hope to again return to their home in September, before the winter season of &#8220Gold in the Hills” opens, secretary Beth Martin said Saturday during the cleanup day at Parkside Playhouse.

&#8220We will perform at VHS during the summer season, but we are still shooting for Sept. 22 to reopen,” she said. &#8220We are very optimistic about that.”

The last time &#8220Gold in the Hills” opened away from its home on Iowa and Confederate avenues was in 1994, when the Southern Cultural Heritage Center was created, Wallace said.

&#8220For a brief period of time, one summer, we performed there when it was established. Then we moved back (to Parkside Playhouse).”

&#8220Gold in the Hills,” an 1890s melodrama, is listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s longest running. The play, which traditionally includes members of the audience throwing peanuts at a villain, was first performed in 1936 on a stage built in the front part of the boiler room of the Sprague, a steam-powered boat that was docked at City Front.

The Sprague burned in 1974 and the production was forced to a former church on Bowmar Avenue that housed VTG’s main stage plays. In 1977, Parkside Playhouse was constructed as the guild’s first home, just before the Bowmar church building was destroyed by fire.