For Nile owner and operator Michelle Donovan, these are words to consider, especially with everything she and her staff need to tackle before The Rosetta Room opens in mid-June. Crunch time is here, she admits, and “everything is a little bit tight.”
There’s still plenty left to do inside the 6,300-square-foot space at First Avenue and Sirrine in downtown Mesa. Infrastructure work and the 11-foot by 20-foot stage still need to be finished. Donovan and company are still “tinkering with merch ideas,” picking out décor elements and securing permits from the city of Mesa. Outside, a mural might be in the works to cover the bunker-like building’s grey exterior.
Even with a looming deadline, Donovan isn’t sweating things too much. The Nile’s team is no stranger to crunch time, having managed multiple downtown Mesa ventures in recent years. Alongside the Nile Theater and its basement venue, the Underground, they run a quaint coffee shop out front and a nearby record store.
“We work well under pressure,” Donovan says. “We got the record store open in 20 days. We had to open (Nile Coffee) in, I think, 28 days. We don't tend to plan ahead, it’s just when opportunities happen, you have to either do it or not. I don't know if we always make the right choices, but it's all worked out so far.”
A ‘community-driven’ space
While The Rosetta Room will feature elements of The Nile’s other ventures — including a mix of events, live music, libations and coffee — Donovan admits it will be its own kind of space with more midcentury vibes and a stronger community focus.One side of The Rosetta Room will house a 400-person, all-ages venue for concerts and “community-driven” events. The building’s east wing will include a coffee bar that will serve as the main entrance to the venue. Elsewhere, a separate bar will sell beer and wine.
Donovan says The Rosetta Room was born of a necessity to host events and gigs that weren’t a fit for either the Nile’s main room, its coffee shop or the Underground.
“There’s a stage in the coffee shop, which we're not really utilizing. There have been promoters, people who have wanted to put full bands in there or like metalcore (shows). That room's not meant for that,” she says. “We also needed a space that could handle private events. The coffee shop isn’t ideal with our hours and sound bleed from the Nile. We get a lot of requests for things like baby showers, birthdays, even weddings — but we’re not really set up for that. This new space gives us more flexibility.”
After The Rosetta Room opens in June, Donovan says the weekly farmers market the Nile staff has run since last year along Macdonald north of Main Street will move to an outdoor area at the venue.
"Once we got the lease on this building, we're like, it'd be great to not have to pay the city to shut the street down,” Donovan says. “So part of the appeal of this building for us was the outdoor spaces.”
The Nile’s weekly yoga session is also headed for The Rosetta Room.
"We're down to do anything, we just, again, want it to be community-driven. Our free yoga program is taking off at The Nile every week, but sometimes we'll have a show loading in at 10. But instead of moving them to the basement, this will be a better spot for them.”
Ultimately, The Rosetta Room will complement its sister venues. And there’s no greater example than its name, which Donovan says was coined one day while conversing with a friend.
“We were kicking name ideas around and he came up with Rosetta Room, because it ties into the Egyptian theme of the Nile,” she says. “Like the venue, it's different, but kind of the same.”
‘A bit of everything musically’
Donovan says The Rosetta Room will host concerts regularly with “a bit of everything musically.”Houston-born rapper DeeBaby will be the venue’s inaugural show on June 10. He’ll be followed by rock band Melrose Ave on June 17, EDM-influenced pop-punk group 408 in mid-July and deathcore act Oceano in late August.
“Right now we have hip hop, we have indie, we have some metal confirmed,” Donovan says. “A lot of it's not announced yet, but there's a going to be a good splay of things coming into this room.”
Donovan says dance nights will also take place at Rosetta Room on the regular, including DJ MyGodComplex’s weekly affair Rec Room.
“We want to do a lot of record-driven events (and) DJ-night types of things that are creating more of an ambience and vibe,” Donovan says. “We want it to be very much like a neighborhood hangout where people can drink coffee or a beer, listen to good music and hang out."
That neighborhood focus is key — especially with the venue located right next door to a large housing development. Donovan says the goal is to be respectful and responsible members of the area.
“We're going to be mindful that we're in a residential area, and we don't want to bring shows here that may cause issues for the people living nearby. Or any potential for fights or debauchery in the parking lot,” Donovan says. “We did a lot of community outreach in meetings before we got through permitting and listened to the people who live next door. We're not trying to disrupt their lives — we want to be good neighbors. We want to make sure what we play in here is conducive to that.”
