Hear.say brewing + theater offers craft beer, fun grub and laugh-out-loud improv. We recently visited the new venue and fully enjoyed ourselves.
“Our main goal is crafting community through joy and laughter,” Owner Tony DeRosa said. “Whether you love improv, craft beer or neither, we want everyone in town to feel welcome here. I’m envisioning a vibrant social hub with great food, interesting alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and lots of events.”
We ordered their “audio.file” pale ale, which had nice fruit notes as well as a slight hoppy flavor. Since it was Labor Day weekend, we also ordered their “hofmann hot dog” and “smash burger.” Both were served with waffle fries and slaw. We enjoyed everything.
“We offer craft beer, wine, spirits, nonalcoholic drinks, food, improv classes, improv shows, corporate workshops and private events,” DeRosa said. “One of the wild things about opening this business is that we are truly 10 symbiotic businesses all sharing one roof. We even have a warehouse and an on-site Airbnb, which we plan to do a lot with over time.”
The improv that we saw was highly entertaining. The audience selected some scenarios or locations that the thespians incorporated skillfully. For example, one location suggested was Italy, and a couple of actors developed a skit about a potential Pope and his sister vying to become the next pontiffs, complete with rolling Italian accents. The audience loved it.
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“Our improv shows are for adults and teenagers with parental accompaniment,” DeRosa said. “We technically don’t have an age cutoff, so as long as a parent/guardian is comfortable with their young ones seeing content that is sometimes PG – 13 / R, that is okay with us. People are welcome to bring drinks to the shows. We have both a taphouse space and a theater space so that people can come for one without the other and be totally welcome. Our shows are currently on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. We also do improv jams that are open to the public two Sundays a month at 6 p.m.”
DeRosa hired a head brewer to handle the beer side of the house.
“We’ve hired Ben Schnurle (formerly of One Drop Brewing) as Head Brewer,” DeRosa said. “Ben brings considerable experience brewing at our scale (7 barrels) and has worked on systems of all sizes. He places a big focus on quality and water chemistry, regularly brewing with organic, luxury ingredients. At One Drop, Ben developed a passionate following that is likely to further grow in our market.”
“For the beers we wish to brew, Ben brings exactly the right experience,” said DeRosa. “He is thrilled to join hear.say and become a part of the Ann Arbor community! With his background, expect forays into sour beer on top of West Coast IPA, lagers, Kölsch and light offerings. Our goal is to be considered among the best craft beer producers in the state at our scale.”
The Ann Arbor community response for the opening of hear.say has been excellent.
“We’ve been blown away by the community response,” said DeRosa. “At this point, we’ve had over 100 unique students take improv classes, held over 40 events, and raised nearly $100,000 towards our startup costs from mainly local investors.”
Everyone is also welcome to participate in improv classes, with economic barriers being broken as well.
“We aspire to meet 100% of need so that cost is never a barrier to someone wanting to take an improv class,” DeRosa said. “Thanks to some generous donors, we are currently able to offer multiple improv scholarships every term.”
Donna Marie Iadipaolo is a writer, journalist, and State of Michigan certified teacher, since 1990. She has written for national publications like The Village Voice, Ear Magazine of New Music, Insurance & Technology, and TheStreet.
She is now writing locally for many publications, including Current Magazine, Ann Arbor Family, and the Ann Arbor Independent. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she graduated with an honors bachelor’s degree and three teacher certificate majors: mathematics, social sciences, English. She also earned three graduate degrees in Master of Science, Master of Arts, and Education Specialist Degree.
