Saturday night was playing out like a nightmare for Steve Southworth, general manager of the Flying Monkey theater. He had a nearly full house, and the headliner’s second set was just starting, when an employee reported smelling something troubling.

Moments later, Southworth was pulling the fire alarm, hoping that the 450 people in the building would be able to exit safely.

Fortunately for the theater, the Flying Monkey remained undamaged, except for some smoke intrusion. The fire did the most damage to the building that houses Downtown Pizza, just two doors down from the theater, and with nearly contiguous structures squeezed in between.

Thanks to a response from 12 different fire departments, the fire didn’t spread to the Flying Monkey, and the theater will re-open on Friday night, when Sugar Mountain, a Neil Young tribute band, takes the stage.

Southworth said the fire necessitated the cancellation of one performance, Motet, which was scheduled for Sunday, April 21. The theater also delayed a showing of the feature film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was scheduled for Tuesday.

“Our next show is going to be Friday, and Saturday, and those shows will go on,” Southworth said.

On the night of the fire, Southworth said he went out the back door of the theater after an employee reported a strange smell. “I could see flames and the glow of flames,” he said. “I went inside and pulled the fire alarm.”

What came next was a “nerve-wracking” ordeal, trying to halt a rock show mid-song and get hundreds of people to safely exit the building. “We do train [for this], my team was ready and really shined. The building was clear in just about three minutes.”

Southworth also praised firefighters, who he said did a “phenomenal job” of containing the fire and protecting the many surrounding buildings.

In the days since the fire, there’s been what he called an “army” of people inside the theater, preparing it for its next show. Though there was no direct fire damage, there was odor from smoke. That’s been eliminated by cleaning of every surface, and steam-cleaning theater seats and even the stage curtains.

“It’s such a big building with so many surfaces, it took a huge amount of people,” to scrub out the smoke smell, he said.

Southworth said the theater is in conversation with some performance groups who have offered to participate in a benefit concert for first responders. That show will likely occur around May 11.