Oh Yeah!
The current runlist is packed with hilarious, popular, not-to-be-missed stories: The Shopping Habit, A Guy without Manners, The Dog Was Dead, and Untitled (Beach).
Also, a certain turkey related holiday is upon us. I decided to make a clean break this year. Dipping into the archives can be risky. It’s a fine line between “classic” and “tired”. So I didn’t bring back Thanksgiving. But that’s only part of the reason I didn’t bring it back. Having originated the role of Jenny in Thanksgiving, I found I often over directed the actor stepping into the role. I would go on and on in rehearsal about Jenny’s past tribulations (as I understood them) and what I thought was the root cause of her inner turmoil. Actors would roll their eyes and say, “yeah, yeah, Luke. We know you used to play Jenny. We really need to move on.”
Marika did a good job with the role, actually. Two years ago during a rehearsal of the piece, she said of her character, “I’ve already popped a lot of painkillers by this point.” That signaled to me that Marika had a good understanding of the character.
Anyway, we’re not doing that story this year. I get too emotional about it.
Instead we are performing a story entitled, A Girl that wants to Eat Turkey but cannot Reach. It’s about a woman who has her own set of troubles. She is on a diet, has unreliable friends and can’t resist pigging out on turkey. Come check it out.
We’ve also put in Mission Impossible: Doggy Man in the Water. It’s splendid.
Password for $2 off is “Solid Man”.
And now, an interactive list of the stories.
Ba-vroom!
It is difficult for me to decide which of the new stories going into TWG on Monday is my favorite. We have the incredible Dancing Donut Trilogy musically adapted by Jason Sperling. We have a story where Hannah Montana is actually a monster and terrorizes other celebrities. Also, we have The Shopping Habit, where two girls seek the counsel of their grandmother, a recovering shop-a-holic.
Wow. Then there is the silent, funny and somewhat touching piece Two Grampas in Paris.
For all this greatness, the show this week is called The Mind Blow. I mean, it’s still called That’s Weird, Grandma. Phew, that was almost a really expensive and stressful marketing makeover. The show is only called The Mind Blow on our runlist and among insiders like you.
Okay.
Get $2 off your ticket simply by saying “Shopping Habit” at the b.o. while you’re shellin’ out your dough.
Below is the order in which we will perform the stories.
Be at it!!!
Oh, the Very Special Lesson. The moral and the button to every family-friendly sitcom. Who did it better, more sickeningly, and more unapologetically than the late-80’s sitcom gem, Full House?
MAYBE ... Barrel of Monkeys. Just. May. Be.
“That’s Weird, Grandma” currently features a story called “I Remember,” where a father learns a Very Special Lesson about watching too much Full House, and then his daughter learns a Very Special Lesson about expressing opinions about others’ tv watching habits. Lessons abound, along with nostalgia. So I set off in search of some primo Full House clips to make us all remember why we loved Full House. Or hated it. Or whatever. Maybe Dave Coulier doing Bullwinkle voices or something. And instead, I found this:
WHAT.
THE.
BISCUITS.
Well, this gives us the opportunity to learn a Very Special Lesson. But what exactly is it?
a) Never, never put your child in show business
b) Stephanie has some pretty good moves in that later clip that takes place in the living room!
c) Youtube user “tvgirl9000”, aka “Linda,” has a lot of time on her hands. no. really. a lot.
d) You have now successfully identified the low point in Bob Saget’s career*, and it’s when he’s wearing a white tuxedo and singing backup to a little girl in an evening gown.
Ah, Avondale—that ol’ chestnut. We’ve been to Avondale a few times and the journals are always teeming with possibilities. The brilliant young minds of the Avondale School are responsible for stories such as the epic and transcendental “It Was a Cold Day,” an untitled story regarding puppies and Michael Jordan, and a tale that every American can relate to, “In Love With a Grill.” (Isn’t that a Roy Orbison song?)
Reading the journals, we found the students were particularly interested in the genre of “scary story” (Bonus points for any kids reading this: look up the definition of “genre” and put it in the comments section- always learning!). Some of the scary stories we’re adapting include a skull who is missing the bones of his body and a witch that flies to the top of the “Sears” Tower. One student described in grave detail a massive disease outbreak. And of course we have “demons and witches and vampires and werewolves, and ghosts.”
And judging from the first two rehearsals, this cast is really into props, mostly hand-crafted. Pens and paper and poster-board are going to be flying across the room. Puppets will represent mud, water, and farts. We will all win various theater awards for our efforts.
One last very special thing about this show: this is Zoe Schwartz’s very first school show as an official member of our Performing Ensemble! Zoe’s been teaching and performing with us a ton, but now she’s got the green light to call herself a Monkey. Three cheers for Zoe!
More later, and hopefully with more pictures of us in the action.
There was a long*-promised titans-clash. There was also a huge gala benefit Friday night. And, I totally won my NFL pool for the weekend. We have not only survived, friends. WE. ARE. CHAMPIONS.
Let us rest our weary selves. Let us repair to That’s Weird, Grandma for a show that just gets better and better and better. Let us laugh ourselves silly and have a darned good time at a darned good show.
This week? Spectacle gets kicked up a notch and takes us to the moment of man’s evolution from the sea. A daughter intervenes when her father’s sitcom watching habits become too much to deal with. And a girl tells her new boyfriend she’s a year older than she actually is.
It’s a good show. You deserve a good show. Come see the show. Code phrase for the special insider price: I’m From The Sea.
