LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A socially distant outdoor benefit concert this Friday in North Little Rock will help raise money for three community theaters as they look to re-open.
The concert will take place at the new Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock and will include 33 local performers.
"In February, I started thinking about how difficult it would be for theaters to start to reopen," Mark A. Burbank said. "I tried to think of a way… what can we do to ease that burden?"
Called "The Show Must Go On," Burbank's goal is to raise 3-thousand dollars for three community theaters in central Arkansas.
It's for the Argenta Community Theater in North Little Rock, The Weekend Theater and the Studio Theater in Little Rock," he said.
Burbank, a freelance director and actor, has worked for all three in past. Unlike the bigger theaters that have large donors, these smaller community spaces haven't gotten much funding since the pandemic started.
"They've definitely been reaching into those rainy-day savings accounts they have and also just surviving on donations from the community," Burbank said.
His goal is to give a thousand dollars to each theater, which can make a big difference for these smaller venues.
"A thousand dollars can be the difference of paying the bills for the month or the rights for the show when they're going to be reopening," Burbank said.
The Studio Theater has plans to have the first show back in May, this benefit hopefully giving them an extra boost.
"We're just under 500 dollars away from our goal, so I'm hoping by the time we actually get to the benefit we will have met it and will pass it and get more money for the theaters," Burbank said.
The benefit concert will be at the Argenta Plaza starting at 5:30 until around 8 p.m on Friday. If it rains, it will be pushed back to Saturday.
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