Tucson's Unscrewed Theater returns to the stage with big shows this weekend

Unscrewed Theater is pulling out all the stops with “supersized shows” this weekend to reopen its East Speedway theater to the public.

All the stops means that Executive Director Chris Seidman is putting all of Unscrewed’s wacky house teams on stage, from the founding Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed that launched Unscrewed back in 2002 to its dynamic daddy duo “Big Daddies” and its kid-friendly Comic Chaos that delves into everything comic book — think superheroes and villains.

It is calling its reopening weekend Friday, Aug. 6, and Saturday, Aug. 7, “Back on Our Feet.” For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic forced Tucson’s longest running, all-volunteer improv troupe in March 2020 to take its act to the virtual world, its performances have featured performers sitting in front of computer screens.

“So we have to literally get back on our feet and figure out how to do improv with each other,” said Seidman, who joined the Not Burnt Out crew in its infancy back in 2005.

Back when the troupe went virtual, it thought it would do a handful of shows to keep the audience engaged. But a handful turned into two or three a week for the past 71 weeks, all without charging admission.

Unscrewed Theater was able to pays its rent and other bills — it’s an all-volunteer organization, which made that task a little easier — through private donations and the city-funded Tucson Cares for Arts and Culture Organizations grant program administered by the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona.

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“We have a really supporting community of people and volunteers and we were able to get donations, which went toward our operating expenses,” Seidman said. “And the (city) grant took care of our rent. With that combination we were able to stay afloat through the pandemic.”

This weekend’s shows will feature sets by Unscrewed’s house teams, including From the Top, which takes the audience’s suggestions and improvises a full musical complete with a pianist accompanying them and choreography; and Big Daddies, with fathers/comedians Mike Pierce and Matt Beaudry, who start off their set telling the audience that between them they have seven kids but only one in common.

Don’t ask.

Unscrewed will use only 100 of its 120 seats to provide some social distancing. It also is asking guests to wear masks, especially if they are not vaccinated. The performers will not be masked during the show, but they will don masks when they are off stage, Seidman said.

“We are very excited. We are — what is the perfect word — thrilled to be able to be back on stage doing what we love to do, which is to make people laugh,” Seidman said. “We feel like people need to laugh and we are good at it.”

This weekend marks Unscrewed’s return to weekly in-person performances on Fridays and Saturdays. It also will resume its improv class in-person. For details, visit unscrewedtheater.org.