Once a month, at a funky little hole-in-the-wall venue called Backspace, Hope and Jordan Haynes host an event they call Roughhouse. It's comedy ... and music ... and art ... and performance art ... and improv ...
"It's OK that you don't understand it," Jordan Haynes says. "One of the coolest things about Roughhouse -- and hopefully what the Huge Lightning Comedy Festival will be -- is the element of risk and surprise involved. You're not going to know what to expect. You're not supposed to."
FAQ
Huge Lightning Comedy Festival
WHEN — 7 & 9:15 p.m. today & Saturday
WHERE — Path Outfitters Studio in Fayetteville
COST — $10 per show
INFO — hugelightning.com
The festival, happening this weekend for the first time, is "really just an excuse to get as many talented and funny people under one roof as we possible can," Haynes says. The organizers have invited people from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles and local comedians, artists, writers and musicians,.
The late shows will each end with a Roughhouse session.
This weekend was already a busy one in Northwest Arkansas, Haynes acknowledges, but "we found a date that worked for us and looked like a good time, and Matt [Miller] had his studio free, so we thought, 'What the heck? Let's do it.' There are a million other things happening, but we think ours is a pretty unique once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Haynes was on the local comedy scene in 2008-10 before moving to Chicago, where he and Hope both worked for the iconic Second City.
"We just got to that point where we had to start making some long-term decisions," he says. "[Coming home] was a move for our future."
For the immediate future of the weekend, Haynes says, "if people pay $10 to experience something they've never experienced before and may never experience again, knowing it will be a unique experience, they will have a good time."
-- Becca Martin-Brown
bmartin@nwadg.com
NAN What's Up on 05/06/2016