After spending 26 years onstage in Sundance Square, improv comedy company Four Day Weekend is seeking a new Fort Worth venue.
The group’s last show at 312 Houston St. will be the weekend of July 26, co-founder David Wilk said.
Wilk was not given a reason for why the lease will not be renewed, he said.
“I just got the news, so I’m processing everything and exploring all options and looking at building out a new space or looking at residences in existing theaters,” Wilk said. “I’m open to any suggestions if you have any.”
Sundance Square did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Four Day Weekend performed at Casa Mañana for one year before moving to the storied downtown building.
“It’s magical,” he said of the 212-seat theater. “It was like it was made for our show. It’s a 200-person theater. It’s intimate, but yet big and spacious. And you can put on a fun, big production and still have that intimacy where the person in the last row is only 12 rows away, right?”
Wilk discovered the space by accident.
“We stumbled upon that by the happiest of accidents. I was supposed to have my rehearsal dinner on the roof, and it rained. And my fiancé — wife now — was just devastated,” he recalled. “Caravan (of Dreams) said, ‘Well, we’ve got this theater that’s not being used for anything, we could put you in here.’ And I walked down there and looked around and was like, ‘Whoa, what is this place?’”
Longtime Four Day Weekend fan Derek Tolmachoff estimates that he has been to upward of 200 of the group’s shows over the past 20 years.
“First and foremost, they’re hilarious. The show is always different,” he said. “I’ve gotten to know David over the years and … they are people that try to reach back and pull people up and help the community.”
The Keller resident said he travels a lot and is constantly telling people about the theater and how lucky Fort Worth is to have it.
“You don’t find this kind of stuff everywhere. You really don’t. It’s a jewel,” he continued. “And it’s something to really cherish.”
Four Day Weekend also has a space in Dallas, but Wilk said that the group wants to maintain its homebase in Fort Worth — finding a new space here is priority.
“I’m still going through the five stages of grief, and then I’ll go, ‘OK, we have to move forward.’ I hate to lose that space. It’s been home for (26) years. It’s beautiful. It’s tailor-made for our show,” Wilk said. “Improv teaches you to pivot and move quickly. Onward and upward. That’s the plan.”
Marcheta Fornoff covers arts and culture for the Fort Worth Report. Reach her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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