Things to Do in Downtown Mesa: A Made-Up Musical
The suggestion was “dental hygienist.” Ninety seconds later a performer was center stage in downtown Mesa, singing a power ballad to a molar she could not save, and the piano under her had found the key about four words in. Nobody had heard that song before. Nobody will ever hear it again. That is the whole deal at an improvised musical, and it happens on Main Street this Friday.
If you have been hunting for things to do in downtown Mesa that are not another patio and another playlist, this is a good week to look at us. The Neighborhood Comedy Theatre has two very different nights on the schedule — a fully improvised musical on Friday and the all-ages competitive show on Saturday — and, for anyone who watches one of those and gets an itch, a beginner class that starts later this month on that same stage. Here is what each one actually is, and how they connect.
Friday: The Improvised Musical
The Musical Catering Company presents The Improvised Musical on Friday, August 7 at 7:30 pm, doors at 7:00. The storyline, the melodies and every lyric are invented on the spot, built from what the audience shouts out at the top of the night. Our Amazing musicians plays underneath it live, which means the cast is not just making up a story — they are making up a story in a key, at a tempo, with a piano and drums and.
You are not a spectator here so much as a co-writer with terrible handwriting. One suggestion from your row can decide whether the show takes place at a wedding or a magical Fairy world. When it lands, an entire hour of theatre exists that would not have existed if you had stayed home, and you will have been part of one.
A note for the improvisers reading: the Musical Improv Jam runs at 6:00 pm that same Friday, before the show. It is pay what you can, open to anyone, and yes, you can sing badly
Saturday: The Competitive Comedy Show
Saturday, August 8 at 7:30 pm is the Competitive Comedy Show — our all-ages flagship, and the easiest first visit if you are bringing people who have never set foot in an improv comedy theatre.
Two teams of improvisers take suggestions from the audience, play improv games decided by the audience, and the audience decides who wins. You get to decide.
No two shows are ever the same, because no two audiences are the same. Unless you all come in a bus together…twice.
In the Classroom: Level One
Almost everyone you will watch this weekend started in a beginner improv class. and most of them started in ours. Level One — Intro to Improv is NCT’s class for total beginners: no experience, no audition, no expectation that you are already funny. The next Session 5 cohort meets Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm on the same downtown Mesa stage, starting August 25.
Week one is mostly games with no wrong answers — a name game, an improv exercise that always falls apart on purpose. What you are practicing is not joke-writing. It is listening to the person across from you as if they are more interesting than the line you had loaded up.
Plenty of students come in from desk jobs across the Phoenix area and never perform anywhere but the graduation show. That is a completely fine reason to take it.
Making an Evening of It
The practical version: park once, walk everywhere. The theatre sits on Main Street in downtown Mesa, surrounded by places to eat before a 7:30 curtain, and both shows run about an 90 minutes — out by 9:00, with the night still ahead of you.
The other version: come Friday for the musical, come back Saturday for the competitive show, notice that you have spent two nights watching people make things up in a room full of strangers, and sign up for Level One on the way out.
This Week at NCT
On stage (Friday): The Musical Catering Company presents The Improvised Musical — Friday, August
7 at 7:30 pm, doors 7:00, downtown Mesa. A full musical invented on the spot from your
suggestions, with live piano. Tickets →
On stage (Saturday): The Competitive Comedy Show — Saturday, August 8 at 7:30 pm, doors 7:00.
All-ages improv competition where the audience calls the suggestions and votes for the winner.
Tickets →
Also Friday: the Musical Improv Jam, 6:00 pm — pay what you can, open to all improvisers.
In the classroom: Level One — Intro to Improv (Session 5) starts Tuesday, August 25 at 7:00 pm in
downtown Mesa. NCT’s beginner class — no experience required. Sign up →
Where is NCT located?
NCT shares a space with The Sacred Pint Taproom in Downtown Mesa.
When head in and look for the secret door marked with our logo.
You’re exactly where you need to be!”
Can we get tickets at the door?
Yup, but its always way faster to buy them online.
Is there a drink minimum?
Nope, there is no drink minimum but supporting the sacred pint would be cool.
Where do we park?
There are over 5,000 FREE parking spaces available in Downtown Mesa every day!
Is there places to eat downtown?
Heck Ya! Here are some awesome restaurants in our Neighborhood.
Wanna learn more about NCT?
Check out all the cool live shows and Improv classes we do.