ABOUT
Immersive Theatre
Theatre on Main Street’s vision is to bring immersive storytelling to the Hudson Valley for actors and audiences alike.
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Our not-for-profit theatre company aims to revolutionize suburban cultural landscapes by bringing quality, immersive theatre to local communities. We specialize in intimate productions that feature diverse casting and innovative storytelling techniques, bridging the gap between urban artistic hubs and underserved suburban areas. Our small, professional theatre embraces the rustic and artistic landscape of our Valley, and aims to create performance art that speaks to its residents, and rises above your traditional community theatre.
By blurring the lines between audience and performer, we create unique, accessible theatrical experiences that foster community engagement and cultural enrichment. Our mission is to make high-caliber, transformative theatre an integral part of suburban life, nurturing local talent and cultivating new audiences for the performing arts. We are not a rural Broadway. We are a theatre which prizes storytelling over glamour, and true craft over branding. We are a growing troupe of artists who value the truth of the human experience and the delivery of these truths to our communities.
Our pioneering small theatre company has rapidly evolved into a comprehensive performing arts center, serving as a studio of artistic excellence and education in our suburban community. Recognizing the need for diverse artistic experiences, we've expanded our offerings to include a rich tapestry of classes and workshops that bring professional instruction in the performing arts to local adults and teens in our Theatre Arts Lab.
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Through the Theatre Arts Lab, we are committed to bringing quality performing arts classes taught by trained educators and professionals in the performing arts. Many of the students in these classes have appeared in our MainStage productions, as we are driven to provide performance opportunities for students wishing to take their craft to live theatre audiences. Through creating strong educational foundations in the performing arts, an important mission of our theatre is to nurture and develop local talent, and employ those who strive to take their artistic journey outside the studio.
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Our Founders
Jessica Jaber, AEA • SAG-AFTRA
Jessica has performed various roles as an actor, dancer and singer on television, film, and in theatre. ​
Favorite past theatre performances include LADY TORRANCE in Theatre on Main Street's inaugural production of "Orpheus Descending", JESS (Jesus) in Main Street's 'Godspell', a performance in an off-Broadway production of new plays, where she originated the role of Jeannette, in Taking Care, written by Greg Keller, of LAByrinth Theatre Company. Locally, she made her Elmwood Playhouse Debut in A Time to Kill as the sassy young lawyer, Ellen Roark, and her Shades Repertory Theatre debut as Shelley, in Sam Shephard's Buried Child.
Jessica has produced, written, directed and performed in staged readings of original one act plays in The Root Collective's "The Nomad Series", presented at Bank Street and Cherry Lane Theatres, as well as the Mandalay Bar in NYC, for which she was a founding member of the emerging, 30 member not-for-profit collective of artists. Most recently, she produced, directed, designed sets, costumes and props for Theatre on Main Street's "Orpheus Descending", 'Godspell' and "Billy Elliot the Musical"
Her first independent film production, when skies are grey, directed by Lucas Ruderman, is based on the novella, Secret Places by Brittany Mae. Jessica produced the film, wrote the screenplay, cast and performed in the film. The film was selected for various national festivals, and was the recipient of several awards.
Recently, she performed the lead female role in the music video, Throw You Out by the up and coming band, Back2Zero. Her most recent film projects have included Riding with Sunshine and Moment in Time. ​
She has studied acting throughout college and post college, and holds an Associates in Arts in Performing Arts, as well as a Bachelor's in Business Administration in Public Accounting from Pace University. She studied Meisner Technique under Alan Gordon, and continued studying her craft with scene study and Master Classes with Howard Meyer, David Deblinger and Charles Goforth, as well as the LAByrinth Ensemble Intensive.
Jessica is classically trained in ballet under master teachers Paul Lau, Co-Founder of the Hong Kong Ballet, and Leonid Kozlov, Principal Dancer from the Bolshoi and NYCB and, has also studied Martha Graham Modern and various styles of jazz. She danced with Kozlov Dance International, performing classical and contemporary works in New York, New Jersey and the Caribbean. She is an affiliate member of the Royal Academy of Dance, studied with the RAD for a Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies, and is a licensed Silver Swans, Progressing Ballet Technique, Zumba and FLX Stretch instructor.