Mission & History

Mission Statement

The purpose of this organization is to cultivate, advance, and promote the appreciation of dramatic arts with the community by presenting amateur theatrical productions. The organization will make educational opportunities available for its members while serving the community in artistic expressions.

Organization History

Center Stage Jackson is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that operates primarily with volunteers. We strive to provide a positive atmosphere for the community to appreciate or to participate in live theatre performances.

Center Stage Jackson was formed in 2000-2001 following the merger of the Clark Lake Players and the Jackson Civic Theater.

The Clark Lake Players was founded in 1954 as the Pleasant View Players and presented shows during the summer months. They originally performed at the Pleasant View Hotel pavilion in Clark Lake then at the Clark Lake Lodge before moving to Clark Lake’s Eagle Point in 1964 and finally to Jackson College’s Potter Center in 1979.

The Jackson Civic Theater was formed in the early 1960s by the Jackson city Recreation Department. Its first plays were staged at City Hall. In 1966, the group moved to Stone Village on Probert Road before finally landing at the JCC Potter Center. JCT productions ran during the school year.

In September of 2000, the two groups merged and Center Stage Jackson was born.  Its first production was Art.

Since its inception, CSJ has expanded beyond traditional plays and musicals and typically produces an annual cabaret, a youth singing competition, a number of staged readings, and two youth theater productions (a play and a musical). See more about our yearly events here.

Production History

* = Youth Theater             + = Staged Reading

2020-21 Season

The Tempest
She Kills Monsters
Old Time Radio Hour +

2019-2020 Season

No Strings Attached*
Making God Laugh
Fairy Tale One-Acts*
Jekyll & Hyde

2018-2019 Season

Peter Pan
What’s New, Broadway? Cabaret
Rockin’ Robin Hood*
Old Time Radio Hour +
Jeeves Intervenes
Wagon Wheels A-Rollin*
The Music Man

2017-2018 Season

Old Time Radio Drama +
The Drowsy Chaperone
The Ladies Foursome +
Cabernet Cabaret
HONK! Jr.*
The Odd Couple – Female Version
Old Time Radio Drama +
A Dickens Christmas Carol*
My Fair Lady

2016-2017 Season

Shrek the Musical
Daring Greatly: A Cabaret About Taking Risks
A Pirate’s Life for Me!*
And Then There Were None
84 Charing Cross +
Alice @ Wonderland*
Fiddler on the Roof
The Gingerbread House +
Venus in Fur +

2015-2016 Season

1776
Perfect Score +
An Evening of Sondheim Cabaret
Mr. Marmalade +
Charleston! *
The Gin Game +
Arsenic and Old Lace
Rumpelstiltskin, Private Eye *
Gypsy
Agnes of God +
The Nerd +

2014-2015 Season

The Dixie Swim Club +
Monty Python’s SPAMALOT
Law & Order: Nursery Rhyme Unit +
Let’s Duet Cabaret
Oz! The Musical *
The Iliad, The Odyssey, and All of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or Less
The Keeper of the Tales *
The Addams Family

2013-2014 Season

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Art +
In the Next Room/The Vibrator Play +
The Pied Piper *
Harvey
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever *
Scrooge! The Musical
Broadway in Jackson Cabaret Fundraiser

2012-2013 Season

Hairspray
Dinner with Friends +
Twinderella *
Eleemosynary +
A Song for Coretta
God of Carnage +
King Midas and the Touch of Gold *
The King and I
Stepping Out

2011-2012 Season

The Late Christopher Bean +
Legally Blonde
Secrets of a Soccer Mom +
The Velveteen Rabbit *
A Song for Coretta +
The Outsiders
Lettice and Loveage +
The Legend of Pocahontas *
White Christmas
Leading Ladies

2010-2011 Season

At Home at the Zoo +
Reasons to be Pretty +
Grease
Little Shop of Horrors
Distracted +
Miscast III Cabaret
Deuce +
The Secret Garden *
Ancestral Voices +
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Perfect Score +
Shakespeare Goes to Gravel Gulch *
The Receptionist +
Cinderella
Doubt

2009-2010 Season

Rabbit Hole +
Back to the 80s
Third +
Miscast II – Cabaret
Proof +
Robin Hood *
Sunday Dinner +
The Diary of Anne Frank
Dead Man’s Cell Phone +
The Story of Hansel & Gretel *
Annie
Mauritius +

2008-2009 Season

High School Musical II
Miscast – Cabaret
Enchanted Sleeping Beauty *
Holes
Anne of Green Gables
Doc, Doc. . .Goose! *

2007-2008 Season

Fame the Musical
Seussical the Musical
Big Bad *
The Miracle Worker
Three One Acts *
Little Women
Cheaper by the Dozen

2006-2007 Season

High School Musical
Man of La Mancha
To Kill a Mockingbird
Scrooge! the Musical
Born Yesterday

2005-2006 Season

Oklahoma!
Our Town
Oliver!
The Odd Couple (Female Version)

2004-2005 Season

On Golden Pond
Arsenic and Old Lace
The Sound of Music

2003-2004 Season

Carousel

2002-2003 Season

Imaginary Invalid
Collected Stories
House of Blue Leaves

2001-2002 Season

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
Marvin’s Room
Annie
The Rainmaker

2000-2001 Season

The Mikado
The Runner Stumbles
Art