Mesa Arts Center announces 2025-26 lineup. Here’s who’s performing

A performance by Paula Poundstone and a special screening of "Blade Runner" join MAC’s packed upcoming season.

August 22, 2025

Image: Mesa Arts Center's 2025-26 performance lineup got some new additions.

Mesa Arts Center's 2025-26 performance lineup got some new additions. Mesa Arts Center

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Mesa Arts Center’s 2025-26 season just got more packed with talent. Earlier this month, the statt at the arts and cultural hub in downtown Mesa announced they’re adding seven new shows to the lineup for its upcoming season.

New additions include a night of stand-up from Paula Poundstone, the holiday comedy “Sister’s Christmas Catechism” and a special screening of the visionary 1982 sci-fi classic “Blade Runner” with live electronic accompaniment.

These events join an already jam-packed and star-studded season that features names like John Cleese and Cary Elwes, hit musicals like "Hadestown," National Geographic film screenings and a slate of comedy shows.

Here’s the complete 2025-26 Mesa Arts Center schedule, including its latest additions:

Hidden Brain “Perceptions” Tour with Shankar Vedantam
Saturday, Aug. 23, 6 p.m.

Chuck Tingle: Lucky Day (presented by Changing Hands Bookstore)
Thursday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m.

Will Wood: Mr. Wood is Dead
Sunday, Aug. 31, 7 p.m.

click to enlarge

A 2014 photo of John Cleese.

Bruce Baker/CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons

Not Dead Yet! John Cleese and the Holy Grail at 50
Saturday, Sept. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Gabby’s Dollhouse Live!
Sunday, Sept 28, 4 p.m.

Jen Hatmaker: Awake
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 7 p.m.

"The Princess Bride": An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes
Saturday, Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m.

Stephanie Garber: Alchemy of Secrets
Monday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m.

National Geographic Live: A Pirate's Life
Wednesday, Oct 15, 7 p.m.

Twin Peaks: A Conversation with the Stars
Thursday, Oct. 16, 7:10 p.m.

MasterChef All-Stars Live!
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.
“The Witcher” In Concert
Thursday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.

"Cinderella"
Friday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.

Richard Thomas in "Mark Twain Tonight"
Friday, Nov. 21, 8 p.m.

"The Voice of Whitney"
Saturday, Nov. 22, 8 p.m.

"The Nutcracker"
Dec. 13 to 21. Times vary.

“Tina: The Tina Turner Musical”
Friday, Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 31, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 1, 1 and 7 p.m.

National Geographic Live: Chasing Monarchs
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 7 p.m.

Joshua Kane: Borders of the Mind
Saturday, Jan. 24, 3 p.m.
"Blade Runner" Live
Sunday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m.

The Simon & Garfunkel Story
Tuesday, Jan. 27, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Live: Life on the Move
Wednesday, Feb 18, 7 p.m.

"Swan Lake"
Sunday, March 1, 6 p.m.

Paula Poundstone
Saturday, March 21, 7 p.m.

National Geographic Live: Discovering the Galapagos
Wednesday, March 18, 8 p.m.

National Geographic Live: Untangling the Mind
Wednesday, April 8, 7 p.m.

“Hadestown”
April 10, 8 p.m.; April 11, 2 and 8 p.m. and April 12, 1 and 7 p.m.

"Riverdance 30: The New Generation"
May 8, 8 p.m.; May 9, 2 and 8 p.m. and May 10, 1 and 7 p.m.

Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music and nightlife. He joined New Times in 2003. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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