BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A 78-year-old theatre right here in Baton Rouge announced on Facebook that they needed to raise $100,000 in 60 days or risk permanently closing their doors, but in three weeks, all of that changed.
“We’re going to be the success story of a theatre that almost closed, but didn’t. And look how we did it,” Lance Parker, Theatre Baton Rouge strategic writing chairman.
It’s not opening night, but the doors are finally open at Theatre Baton Rouge. A place where actors have graced the stage in the capital city for decades, until the pandemic hit.
“Theatres across the country have actually, many have closed,” Parker said. “We were in a situation where we needed some support.”
That was almost the case for Theatre Baton Rouge. Parker said a post was shared on Facebook about the theatre having to shut down, due to finances, but the show goes on.
Parker told me the theatre faced many bumps along the road during and after COVID, but it didn’t defeat them.
“Things have gotten a lot more expensive for us due to a lot of things, inflation, supply chain issues, people not coming back to the theatre like they were before COVID,” Parker said.
With a dedicated team behind the arts and performance, Baton Rouge Theatre is open for business. They shared on Facebook how they met their goal of $100,000 in a matter of weeks with the support of the community.
“It has been a really, really great thing for us. We’ve gotten so much support and so many people that are reaching out to us, asking how they can help,” Parker said.
