Staged Readings are different from regular plays or musicals in that actors and actresses perform with scripts in hand, with minimal set, props and blocking.

Readers Theatre is an excellent choice for actors that want to get their feet wet acting but do not have a lot of time to devote to a full show. There are typically only a few rehearsals and just one performance where actors are not required to memorize the material.

The Reader’s Theatre Series is the brainchild of Ann Holt, who wrote and applied for a grant for the series in 2009. The purpose of the Reader’s Theatre Series was to…

  • Allow the community to become familiar with a wider variety of theatrical works and playwrights.
  • Allow more of the community to be active and involved in community theatre.
  • Allow community members that have never acted before a way to ‘get their feet wet’.
  • Allow veteran actors and actresses the opportunity to perform without the commitment of a regular show (due to health, economic, time or scheduling constraints).

The Reader’s Theatre Series began in October 2009 at the Bon Ton Room on Wildwood Avenue with the reading of Mauritius.

All Center Stage Jackson Staged Readings are currently FREE to the public and located at several locations in the Jackson community, including Jackson School of the Arts’ Ensemble Theatre, The Jackson Symphony Orchestra’s Weatherwax Hall, Jackson’s First Presbyterian Church, The Sandhill Crane Vineyards, and more!

Center Stage Jackson would like to thank Ann Holt for conceiving and securing the grant for the Series, as well as guiding it to success in it’s first years.

History of Readers Theatre Productions

2017-2018
  • Old Time Radio Shows: Sherlock Holmes & The Shadow (January 27, 2018)
2016-2017
  • If the Shoe Fits (February 11, 2017)
  • Venus in Fur (September 10, 2016)
  • The Gingerbread House (October 8, 2016)
  • 84 Charing Cross Road (November 19, 2016)
2015-2016
  • The Nerd (September 19, 2015)
  • Agnes of God (October 3, 2015)
  • The Gin Game (March 12, 2016)
  • Mr. Marmalade (April 9, 2016)
2014 -2015
  • Law & Order: Nursery Rhyme Unit (May 9, 2015)
  • The Dixie Swim Club (August 8, 2015)
2013-2014
  • In the Next Room/The Vibrator Play (May 10, 2014)
  • Art (June 7, 2014)
2012 – 2013
  • God of Carnage (Feb 16, 2013)
  • Eleemosynary (Mar 2, 2013)
  • Dinner with Friends (Apr 6, 2013)
2011 – 2012
  • Lettice and Loveage
  • A Song for Coretta
  • Secrets of a Soccer Mom
  • The Late Christopher Bean
2010 – 2011
  • The Receptionist
  • Perfect Score
  • Ancestral Voices
  • Deuce
  • Distracted
  • Reasons to be Pretty
  • At Home at the Zoo
2009-2010
  • Mauritius
  • Dead Man’s Cell Phone
  • Sunday Dinner
  • Proof
  • Third
  • Rabbit Hole