The On Stage Playhouse began its life as the Monroe Primitive Baptist Church. Completed in 1910, the structure was built with donations of land, money, materials and labor.

When the congregation dwindled, the last few members donated the building to the Monroe City Schools to be used for educational purposes.  A local teacher, Mrs. Mashburn, turned the building into a studio where she taught etiquette, elocution, history and literature. Her students presented programs and pageants.

Later the famous Monroe Girls Corps practiced here.  It sat vacant for awhile then briefly became a coffee house where local teens hung out.  Eventually, the City of Monroe granted On Stage the use of the facility. As the venue for our Youth Theatre Camp, it’s still used to educate kids.

One of the features of the original church was a bell that called people to worship. When the neighbors declared the bell a noisy nuisance, it was removed from the belfry and moved to Gratis, Georgia. Mounted above a well-house, it stayed there until the property was sold. Word got out that the bell had been brought back to Monroe. On Stage found the battered and broken bell, and now it rests in front of the playhouse.