A pop-up theatre and bar where the show is always on. Intimate performances. Craft drinks. The kind of night you'll still be talking about.
Upstage is a pop-up theatre and bar bringing intimate, original performances to unexpected spaces across Michigan.
Every event pairs a crafted cocktail menu with a curated performance — Greek myth, Shakespeare, original work. The bar is part of the show. The audience is part of the story.
No permanent location. No fourth wall. Just good theatre and better drinks.
Upstage started with a simple frustration: theatre had become something people watched from a safe distance. Beautiful, expensive, reverent — and completely disconnected from the room it was happening in.
We wanted something different. A space where the show starts at the bar, where the drink in your hand was chosen for the story being told, where the performers and the audience shared the same air, the same jokes, the same silence.
We began as a pop-up — intentionally. No permanent address means every location is a choice, every venue shapes the work, every night is specific to where and when it happens. We're not looking for a stage. We bring one with us.
Our events pair original storytelling with craft cocktail menus built around each performance. The drinks aren't decoration. They're dramaturgy.
Upstage is a small company building something new. We're not looking for polished résumés — we're looking for performers who want to be in the room, who understand that the bar and the stage are the same space, and who can hold an audience in the palm of their hand.
Our shows are intimate. You'll be close to the audience. There's nowhere to hide and no reason to. What we need is presence, range, and someone who reads a script the way a bartender reads a room.
Fill this out and we'll be in touch when auditions are scheduled.
Event dates, locations, and ticket links go to the list before anywhere else. We don't send noise — only shows.