A little background on Mainstage Theatre

In the spring of 1960 ten members of an adult education speech class taught by Maxine Adkins proposed to organize a community theatre in Anderson, since none existed at the time. Each person paid $10.00 for a lifetime membership, officers were elected, and a season of three plays were presented that summer in the Anderson High School auditorium.

The following summer with the growth of interest in membership, Madison County Players moved to the Geeting proprety at the end of East 10th Street and presented a season of plays in a rented tent. Through the generosity of the late Robert Getting, a new circus tent was purchased, and the Players began to be known as the Geeting Summer Theatre. The theatre brought to the area some well-known local television personalities, Frances Farmer and Kay Field, and Jack Kelly of the Maverick series.

A pole barn was erected on the site eventually to provide more security as the theatre began to accumulate lighting, properties, and costumes. Theatre membership grew and reached out into the entire county. The Board of Director. Realizing that the theatre building rested on leased ground, began an intensive campaign to save money in order to purchase a more permanent home.

In 1983 the group brought a warehouse at 124 West Ninth Street paying $40,000 in cash. A mortgage was, also, placed on the property in order to secure additional funds for remodeling the structure into a theatre with a proscenium stage, green room, orchestra pit, concession stand, and raised seating. The Mainstage Theatre opened as the permanent home for the Madison County Dramatic Players in 1984.

One of the oldest self-supporting summer theatres in the state, Mainstage presents five plays from May to October, and frequently special shows for children and Christmas. The players also perform dinner theatres by request and special productions for charitable groups and festivals.