Soul Invictus, a performance space for comedy and theater on Grand Avenue, is closing at the end of March after nine years in operation.
Soul Invictus served as a permanent performance space for the Sic Sense Sketch Comedy Troupe and the Arizona Curriculum Theater groups. The space also held an art gallery.
Franc Gaxiola, the most recent owner of Soul Invictus and the founder of the Sic Sense Sketch Comedy Troupe, said it was a combination of stress and outgrowing the building that led to the closure.
“I couldn’t handle the stress of it, directing and producing stuff around the year,” Gaxiola said.
In order to keep the business running, Soul Invictus featured different one-act plays and musical acts each month in addition to the two permanent performance groups. The space also held events such as the annual “Bare It All For Art” Nude Body Painting.
Gaxiola said he considered these productions to be some of his greatest accomplishments with the performance space.
“It was great because I got to produce the original work that I would never have been able to produce,” Gaxiola said. “We’ve had some amazing work pass through.”
Both Sic Sense and Arizona Curriculum Theater needed more seating space as they grew, Gaxiola said. The property contained two buildings; the brick building in the front served as the art gallery and the bright yellow and blue striped building in the back was the performance space.
The lack of air conditioning, heating and indoor dressing rooms were also reasons why the groups looked elsewhere, Gaxiola said.
Gaxiola took control of Soul Invictus from the original founders in 2009, a year after he started Sic Sense in the space.
Soul Invictus was founded by members of the Artists Theatre Project, a theater troupe that also provides summer camps and other services for kids. Gaxiola took over administrative duties because of health and financial issues among the founders, some of whom remained involved with Soul Invictus after the transition.
Soul Invictus was a member of the Grand Avenue Merchant’s Association, an organization that promotes Grand Avenue’s businesses and history. Both Gaxiola and Patti Swartz, one of Soul Invictus’s original founders, were dedicated to the avenue.
“It was fun and something to make Grand Ave. more friendly,” Swartz said of Soul Invictus.
However, both said they felt the street hurt their businesses at times.
“Unfortunately where we were on Grand, there wasn’t that much foot traffic,” Gaxiola said. He noted a particular drop in traffic when the Paisley Violin, a Grand Avenue restaurant, closed in 2011.
“I wish more people had known about it,” Swartz said. “I think the neighborhood was a bit of a deterrent.”
Beatrice Moore, who owns the property, is looking for new occupants.
“It would be nice to have a performance group because it’s such a good performance space,” Moore said. “We would like to find someone who would be there and would be open more.”
Soul Invictus was the only space on Grand Avenue solely devoted to theater and performance. The space was also one of the few businesses that offered evening activities on Grand, Moore said.
“We don’t really have any other theater places around Grand,” Moore said. “They brought a nice live performance aspect to the street. It would be nice to have a space that is just dedicated to comedy, live performance or performance art.”
Sic Sense and Arizona Curriculum Theater are looking for a new location in downtown Phoenix. Gaxiola said he wants a place “with things happening around it” that will also support the growth of both groups.
“I accomplished a lot of things, and that’s why we need to move to bigger place,” Gaxiola said.
Contact the reporter at ascoville@asu.edu
