MBT is...

Our mission-statement reads:

          "Monster Box Theatre is an award-winning, professional live-performance theatre dedicated to bringing creative and innovative productions to the stage. New ideas and open minds are encouraged. All are welcome. With a primary goal of enriching the community through the performing arts, we endeavor to reach out in all ways possible, not just through performances, but also training, classes, events, public festivals, and any interaction that allows us the opportunity for the community to engage meaningfully with the arts, in any, and all

of its forms"

     

The Past

(in a sentence)

          Prior to Covid-19, and our shut-down in March 2020, Monster Box Theatre thrived for over 8 years, performing over 100 distinct shows which consisted of over 1,000 successful individual performances, in addition to hosting countless classes, camps, and educational programs including youth, under-served, and special-needs.

​

The Present

          We are so grateful and excited to have found a new home in which to continue our journey. We feel we have the perfect fit in Jackson with a building in the heart of an exciting, revitalizing downtown. We also realized very quickly that this is not just a city. It is a strong, historic, amazing community. And to be a successful part of that, we would have to commit 100% to being a consistent, reliable, and long-term asset to that community as well as all the businesses in the area. With this in mind, we redirected the last of our assets to purchase our building and we are here to stay.   

          We have already performed over 150 live performances in Jackson County, in one form or another. We have also participated in many of the festivals and even hosted a 5-day Arts Festival of our own in late 2023 (The Jackson Festival for the Arts) with the help of so many great Jackson businesses and organizations. We have, so far, taught 75 classes in Jackson on performance, ranging from children to seniors and have established permanent classes with local facilities teaching performance therapy to those with special needs.

​

The Future

(We have the biggest of plans)

          We intend to keep expanding all of the above-mentioned programs, in addition to getting back to full-strength in fully-staged theatrical productions. In 2025 we began the process of rebuilding our highly-acclaimed youth theatre program and will be doubling it in '26. There are truly too many new things in the works to list. And many of these events are intended to bring people from all over Michigan and even surrounding states to Jackson to see the exciting things we have to offer. 

          Possibly the most significant of these projects is being able to open the doors of our own theater to the public in 2026. Being a 501c3 non-profit arts organization, we are always putting our funds directly back into performances and projects. There never is enough extra to cover large and expensive construction and repairs. We have our building and love our location, however what we could afford was in a severe state of disrepair and was not compliant with current fire and safety codes or accessibility requirements. Long story short, we're getting there. Much, much more slowly than we had anticipated, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. It's going to happen in 2026.

​

          As a final note, we added the above paragraph to help answer the many inquiries we  get about the status of our opening. We would, however, like to express that help would be greatly appreciated if anyone out there would like to do so. Financial needs are always huge, but in-person volunteers are also welcome. For more information, please call or text us at 248.787.5365,

or email info@monsterboxtheatre.com regarding ways to help or any other questions you may have.

​

We would love to hear from you. 

 

         - The Monster Box Theatre Board of Directors