Graphic by Dave Maulbeck
(MADISON, NJ) -- Looking for a night out to escape the Netflix doom scroll? Something beyond movies at the megaplex or a typical bar crawl? The Flip Side, a completely improvised theatrical comedy experience, is appearing at the Madison Community Arts Center on Saturday, May 9, 2026 — and it's anything but predictable. The Flip Side is the house team of Vivid Stage, a professional theatre company based in Summit.
Each 90-minute show is built from scratch in real time, blending the spontaneous gameplay of Whose Line Is It Anyway? with the performance savvy of SNL. Directed by Dave Maulbeck (Law & Order, Complete Unknown), The Flip Side features a powerhouse cast of Vivid Stage company members, Broadway veterans, film actors, and top NYC/NJ improvisers delivering lightning-fast laughs and totally original scenes every time.
The Flip Side performs every other month at the Madison Community Arts Center. Shows are 90 minutes long with no intermission — just full-throttle comedy from start to finish. Leave the kids, pets, and small woodland animals at home — this one’s for the grown-ups.
Up next is the performance on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 8:00pm. Ticket Prices: $23, and $18 for students 25 and younger. Tickets are available for purchase online. The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, New Jersey.
Both The Madison Community Arts Center and Vivid Stage's home venue, the Oakes Center, are wheelchair accessible.
Vivid Stage was founded in 1994 as Dreamcatcher Rep, and is a non-profit professional ensemble of actors who build community with the audience by sharing contemporary, life-affirming stories that challenge, energize and entertain. Their work has at its heart a belief in the essential goodness of people and the power of live performance to connect people through our shared humanity. They expose theatregoers to ideas and lives like and unlike their own with the intention of awakening their imaginations and creating empathy for others. They deepen the experience of all their patrons with personal contact through receptions, talkbacks, and interactive programs.
The company’s activities include mainstage productions, improvisational comedy and cabarets, new play readings, works in a variety of media, and a menu of educational and senior outreach programs.
Vivid Stage’s programs are funded by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, the Shubert and Summit Foundations and many other corporations, foundations and individuals. Vivid Stage is an Equity Producing member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
Vivid Stage, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
