Hey there, theatre enthusiasts! I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I am restarting JaxPlays, and this time it’s here to stay!

As some of you may recall, the site was initially built on MediaWiki, which proved to be quite cumbersome to maintain and edit. But now, JaxPlays has a fresh new look and is running on Jekyll with a wiki theme. What a game-changer! Jekyll is a static site generator, meaning it creates simple HTML files that can be easily edited and updated. Unlike a CMS like MediaWiki, Jekyll doesn’t require a database, which makes it faster, more secure, and significantly easier to maintain.

The site is blazing fast now, and I couldn’t be happier with the switch. However, I still need your help! With over 100 years of theatre productions in Jacksonville, there’s so much history to document. If you have cast lists, playbills, show photos, or anything else that can help preserve the rich theatrical heritage of Northeast Florida, please send it my way!

Hey folks,

Ray Hollister here, lead editor and developer of JaxPlays.

I started JaxPlays on January 9, 2020. Perhaps not the best timing. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Needless to say, things did not go as we expected for local, live theatre that year or the next.