Donate today to save Parkway Playhouse!

As we shuttered the theater in the wake of Hurricane Helene, we are grateful for, and humbled by our small community, and the way Burnsville united in the face of tragedy. We are deeply saddened by the loss of homes, businesses, and lives, but we know we are “Yancey Strong” and will overcome devastation with strength and grace.

Luckily, our historic building survived the storm unscathed, but as we look forward to our 78th season, we need your help now more than ever. In the aftermath of the storm, we had to cancel our entire Fall Junior season, along with several fundraisers, which left us with no income from October to December, a loss of over $16,000. We supported our students by offering a Halloween Party, and six free theatre classes during a time when school was unexpectedly closed for weeks on end. Still, the disappointment of canceling two shows, especially after they endured so many closures during COVID-19, has been upsetting to our kids, and we want to ensure such disappointment does not continue. Unfortunately, we have depleted our savings in order to pay our staff, who have continued working diligently this entire time to assure Parkway can operate on “business as usual” into the New Year.

We are dedicated to offering high-quality productions that our audiences enjoy, but it is impossible to do so without your support. We have heard your feedback, and with a passionate and re-energized team in place, we want to give you a season you love in 2025. We have an uplifting season planned, which includes well-known titles such as Our Town, and Arsenic and Old Lace, as well as a musical, Matilda, and the winner of our 2024 Appalachian Playwriting Festival, Bloodletting in These Hills. Our Parkway Junior season will include Anastasia, Youth Edition, 101 Dalmatians, Descendants, and the newly-released Beetlejuice, Jr, along with a lineup of exciting camps, classes, and voice lessons. We’ll also hold the 3rd annual Appalachian Playwriting Festival in September. We are excited to bring you both new and old works–but performing high-caliber theater, paying actors a reasonable stipend, paying our hard-working staff, and providing audiences with exciting technical elements, cost money.

While we are rehearsing and performing shows, our building continues to need maintenance and repairs. We spent nearly $4,000 on building repairs this year, and there is still much to do. Due to the generosity of board members and volunteers, we were able to update our dressing rooms and restrooms, but we are in desperate need of structural repairs, such as reinforcing our stage, painting the exterior of the building, updating our accessible ramp for patrons, and adding exterior and interior lighting to prevent falls. Your donations are vital to keeping our historic building beautiful and safe.

Parkway also is committed to giving back to the same community that supports us. This year, you can allocate part of your donation to support World Central Kitchen, which has provided thousands of delicious hot meals to our residents throughout this heartbreaking time. We are honored to give back to that organization.

Our Fall Giving Goal is $20,000, and we hope you will consider making a financial contribution. Whether you are moved to donate $5 or $5000, your tax-deductible contribution will go towards ensuring that Parkway Playhouse can provide quality programming for kids and adults for the next 78 years.

We wish you and your loved ones a healthy and happy holiday season and New Year and look forward to seeing you in the audience next season!