Happy early Halloween! I celebrated already this weekend with some cool theater events in downtown Phoenix, including my first-ever Ghostfest at The Torch Theatre and 7 Minutes in Hell at Space 55, one of my favorite variety shows in the Valley.

First up this past Saturday night was 7 Minutes in Hell, where every performer in the show got 7 minutes to do whatever the heck he or she wanted, with no prior auditions. Obviously, this could make for a hit-or-miss show, but every single 7 Minutes show I’ve seen (and participated in) has had high-quality performers who put a lot of passion into their performances. This week, we got to take in everything from Halloween-themed haikus to a fake game show to some musical performances. The next 7 Minutes show is 7 Minutes Under the Mistletoe, which I’m sure will be highly entertaining, as well. Check out more pics from the show below, and see all of Space 55’s upcoming shows here.

Next, I headed over to The Torch Theatre for the improv community’s second annual Ghostfest. This 30-hour improv marathon featured 15-minute shows from a variety of performers, and the line-up included a diverse offering of improv formats.

The most interesting show I saw was a Bane-from-Batman-themed performance, where characters such as Bane Austen, Bane Fonda and Bane Goodall came on-stage for a debate. It was highly bizarre but highly entertaining.

The Torch always has something fun coming up. My Level 5 improv classmates have a show there this Friday at 10:30 p.m. For tickets, go here.