ComedySportz Quad Cities Opening Weekend, November 11 and 12

Friday, November 11, and Saturday, November 12, 7 p.m.

The Spotlight Theatre, 1800 Seventh Avenue, Moline IL

For fans of family-friendly improv comedy, our long local nightmare is about to be over. Because as of November 11 and 12, after a three-year hiatus, ComedySportz Quad Cities finally returns to the area with opening-weekend shows at the organization's new home base: the newly refurbished Spotlight Studio located on the lower level of Moline venue the Spotlight Theatre.

Beyond being thrilling news for the many, many patrons who had enjoyed this improv-as-team-sport comedy brigade since its area debut in 1990, the return couldn't be more exciting or welcome for Spotlight c-owner Brent Tubbs, who joined ComedySportz in 2000.

“When I joined them, I went in deep,” says Tubbs with a laugh. “I performed every Friday and Saturday for about a year-and-a-half” before moving to West Coast for 12 years, “and I totally got bit by the bug. I just thought, 'This is amazing.' I was so lucky that (CSZQC co-founder) Jeff Adamson took me under his wing and threw me up there a ton. That's where I first got my love for improv.”

After he and his family (including his wife Sara, the Spotlight's) returned to the Quad Cities in 2013, Tubbs says, “I jumped back in, and not soon after that, they started doing more of their long-form Late Nite shows with Weisenheimer, so I joined them.” Yet by 2019, with many of their years spent Rock Island's Establishment Theatre, ComedySportz Quad Cities' nearly 30-year engagement was beginning to run its course.

“It was run by Jeff and (his son) Patrick Adamson, and they did a phenomenal job with it for the 20-something years that they handled it. And I don't have a clear, precise answer for why it stopped, but I know they left the Establishment right at the beginning part of 2019. They wanted to leave the brick-and-mortar, and started doing shows kind of every other month. So they were doing them here at the Spotlight in the big theatre space, and also in Northpark Mall. And they alternated every other month.

“It actually ended,” Tubbs continues, “in the fall or winter of 2019. That's when they kind of pulled up stops, although they were still doing the GIT Improv shows, making that a traveling show for private events.” In other words, ComedySportz ended just a few months before, for a considerable time, all live shows ended. “I always joke with Jeff Adamson about that. 'Did some fairy whisper in your ear and say now's a good time to stop?'

“But when they decided to stop, Jeff said, 'If anybody wants to pick up the licensing for the franchise, you can. Just contact ComedySportz Worldwide.' And Bob Kelly was the one who, even when they were first letting it go, was really interested in picking it up. But at the time, he didn't really have a clear idea of how to do it, or where to do it. And then 2020 hit. So the idea just kind of sat on the shelf for a while.”

The notion for ComedySportz's eventual return finally re-emerged this past spring. Regarding the event center in the Spotlight's lower level that had previously been home to wedding receptions, quinceañeras, and the like and other another renter's control, Tubbs says, “Sara and I had been thinking of taking over the Spotlight's downstairs area for a while, just because with the other events that were going on, it kind of got pretty rowdy and very, very loud with the music, and it would disrupt our shows upstairs.

“So we were contemplating taking it over, but we were also like, 'I don't know … . What would we do down there?' Because that was going to be a whole 'nother space to try and fill. But then after having conversations with Bob Kelly about it, he said, 'Well, I've been thinking about starting ComedySportz back up … .' And then we both really started talking: 'Oooookay, maybe that's the solution. We put it in there every Friday and Saturday, and we have full control of the sound.'”

With the new Spotlight Studio, says Tubbs, “We curtained off all of the pillars down there and put up sound blocks, so the sound should be really contained, and it's actually turning out to be a really great space for ComedySportz.

“It's 138 seats,” he continues, “and all of them are at a table – it's all table seating. But with curtaining the area off, it's a very intimate space, which is awesome for improv. Because when we were doing it upstairs, it's such a huge space up there that the performers felt distanced from the audience, the audience felt distanced from the performers … . It wasn't as immersive a show as we wanted it to be. And there are such high ceilings, too, which makes things hard to hear.

“But the Studio is going to be a really, really great space for it. We're kind of leaning into a tech element. We've got two giant-screen TVs that will be on the back walls to project stuff onto. It's gonna be a ton of fun. And we have full control of the music. We're doing tests to make sure a certain level is set, and then we're just going to tell everybody who runs it, 'Do not go louder than this. This is your cut off point.'”

For those worried about available parking on evening in which a stage musical is taking place in the theatre upstairs while CmedySportz is being performed downstairs, Tubbs says, “That was definitely an issue that we talked about. But we're really happy with our location. We have 100 spaces in our own parking lot, and aside from that, there's tons of street parking. But we also have the parking lot directly north of us at Bethany Homes; they offered us the parking lot there. There's also another big open spot right across from that. There's a City of Moline employee parking lot right across from the fire station, which gives us another 60 spots or so. And there's the big parking structure across from the police station, as well.

“And if you buy a ticket,” Tubbs adds, “we have a map there that has all the parking spots highlighted.”

Regarding the improv group itself, Tubbs says that after auditions were held in August, ComedySportz Quad Cities brought on 24 new players in addition to the roughly two dozen former players eager to return.

“The idea behind bringing on that many new people was that we wanted it to be completely different every show. It's going to be a constant rotation of new people. That way everybody gets equal playing time, and it really keeps the show fresh, because you'll never really see the same group of people within the same month.”

For the official “ComedySportz Quad Citie is back!” shows on November 11 and 12, Tubbs says, “The idea for the opening weekend was they wanted to have two of the brand-new players, two of the older players who are somewhat new, and then two players who are from 'the old guard,' as we say.

“So on November 11, we have Ryan Hurdle, Brendan Sears, and Andy Koski all on one team, and on the other team, we have Brooke Boldt, Jessica Merritt, and Dave Levora, with Jimmy Sederquist reffing. And then on the 12th, Greg Hampton, Tracy Skaggs, and Bob Kelly are on one team, and on the other team is Monta Ponsetto, Andy Denton, and Steve Jennings, with Jessica Merritt reffing.”

“There was a ton of excitement when we first announced the show's return,” says Tubbs. “We called an all-company meeting and said, 'All right, we're doing this – who wants to be involved?' We invited everybody back that was in it before. But really, the most excitement is coming from the new players. They are just so energetic and so talented – it's a great, great group of people, and they're just chomping at the bit.”

And will audiences be seeing the return of Tubbs himself at some point soon?

“November 26 will be my first show back,” he reveals. “I told them 'Don't schedule me for a while, because I'm going to be too worried about tickets and concessions and all that stuff. I don't know that I'll be able to relax enough yet.'”

Opening weekend for the return of ComedySportz Quad Cities will take place in the Spotlight Studio on November 11 and 12, with the 7 p.m. shows continuing to run weekly on Fridays and Saturdays. “Admission is $15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)912-7647 and visiting TheSpotlightTheatreQC.com.