Firefighters were called to a blaze on the roof of Darlington Civic Theatre today.
Twenty staff had to be evacuated after smoke leaked into the building in Parkgate at lunchtime.
The fire was believed to have been started by workmen using a blow torch on the roof.
Kevin Thompson, watch manager at Darlington Fire Station, said: "It was a fire involving the fascia boards high up on the roof where workmen were working on scaffolding.
"It seems as though some felting had caught fire when they'd been using a blow torch. There was about 5m of boarding that was on fire.
Quite a bit of smoke got into the theatre and there was some damage to the dressing room and a little bit of water damage."
A theatre spokeswoman said: "There was some smoke damage but no major structural damage to the building.
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