February 7th – 22th, 2014

Show Summary

✈️ Top Gun: Live, Abridged & Completely Underfunded
Original Run: February 7 – 22, 2014
Mesa Encore Black Box – Mesa, AZ
Revival Run: April 7 – 29, 2017
The Playhouse on the Park – Phoenix, AZ

If there was ever a production that defined "underfunded mayhem," this was it. Top Gun: Live, Abridged & Completely Underfunded launched as the third APP show in just six months—and the final one before the company permanently landed at Playhouse on the Park. Born out of necessity, panic, and total puppet madness, this low-budget, high-concept parody took the 1986 blockbuster and stuffed it full of felt, satire, and foam-based missile launches.

The original 2014 run was guerrilla theater at its finest. The cast once performed the show for an audience of four, and it still stands as one of the best nights in company history. True to its title, the show was built on a strict $100 budget—with cardboard planes, foam rockets, and even a Transformer mask still bearing its returnable price tag. Two fighter jets designed by Scott Horton stood out as minor miracles in a sea of glorious, duct-taped chaos.

Faithful to the plot but packed with detours, the show followed Maverick, Goose (an actual goose puppet with a thick mustache), Ice Man (an ice cream cone with sunglasses), and a slew of absurd side characters—including Spock, George of the Jungle, and a “Duck Dynasty” shoutout—through their high-stakes flight school melodrama. The infamous volleyball scene? Even sweatier. The romance? Even cheesier. And the homoerotic tension? Boldly acknowledged—“That was directly from the movie. I’m not kidding.”

The puppets were pitch-perfect. Maverick’s toothy Cruise-a-like puppet had the smarm dialed to 11. Ice Man oozed chill. And when Maverick’s jet transformed into a metal robot (with said price-tagged Transformer mask), the audience lost it.

The production was fast, loose, and proudly ridiculous. Musical cues from Danger Zone to Take My Breath Away mixed with impromptu heckling of latecomers and audience participation. The entire cast wore black, hooded puppeteer gear, vanishing into the background as the foam heroes soared. And like always, no two nights were the same.

Top Gun marked the end of APP’s nomadic phase and the beginning of its residency at Playhouse on the Park. It was bold, stupid, brilliant fun—and it never stopped aiming for the Danger Zone.

Performances ran:

February 7 – 22, 2014 – Mesa Encore Black Box

April 7 – 29, 2017 – The Playhouse on the Park Theatre
(Audience of four. Budget of none. Puppets in the danger zone.)