New Executive Director, Kemper Florin, speaks on her opening night experience:
As the new Executive Director for the amazing Barrel of Monkeys Productions, I was particularly excited for opening night of That’s Weird Grandma: Stories that Sing and Dance!! (It also didn’t hurt that my background is in musical theatre and opera, so this round was right up my alley!) On opening night, I welcomed our audiences and sensed the excitement as I took my seat. From the upbeat opening number to the last clever closing pitch for supporting Barrel of Monkeys, everyone, including me, laughed out loud and laughed often. The display of talent is truly remarkable and made me feel such pride and gratitude that these artists are also the same ones doing such remarkable work in our schools. As we enter into our closing weekend, I’ll always remember highlights from this run, including when one of our students came with his parents and saw his story about riding in his Bugatti come to life as a catchy K-pop song! The beaming bright smile on his face said it all, and that, my friends, IS something to sing about.
My Bugatti, written by Angelo from McPherson Elementary
We are a week out from opening That’s Weird, Grandma: Stories That Sing and Dance and I am very excited to share with you the incredible stories written by our students that are going into this Musical Extravaganza. You can click on the links to read the student’s original story.
Stories That Sing Breakin Phone. We are thrilled to finally debut in TWG this groovy song from 8 years ago. It Hurts is a love song composed in collaboration with the student author herself. The Prince and Princess is a TWG classic with a twist ending (spoilers ahead). Evil Devil Printer is a hilariously haunting Opera that is making its TWG debut and was written by a neighborhood student at Peirce International School.
Stories That Dance Glacier Living with Sharks is all about dolphins saving the world from global warming through dance. Dear Government was a TWG audience favorite for over a year and its now its back again, asking the question is our government fair to dance teams? The Queen with No Friends features Voguing, Duck Walking, Sissying that Walk and it continues to be an audience favorite.
Stories That Sing and Dance Shame is a brilliantly crafted melancholic poem we will sing word-for-word. Lost Mouth is a cautionary tale about sharing. One Day Washing Clothes brings a ton of funk to an otherwise tedious chore.
Brand New Stories (That also Sing & Dance) My Bugatti is a new story from the nearby McPherson Elementary performed by BOM’s first ever Kpop band. I Need to Use the Bathroom i also new from McPherson and will dance its way into your heart. Twisted Trumpet #DontBuyATrumpetFromAWitch
Barrel of Monkeys students love to write about celebrities and pop culture icons - so we decided to bring you some of our favorite pop-culture-inspired stories in That’s Weird, Grandma: Star-Studded Stories. You won’t just see conventional stars in the show, though. We’re also featuring “BOM stars” - beloved characters that have become a staple in our repertoire.
Here are three BOM stars we’re excited to bring to the stage during this round of Grandma!
1. The Evil Horse
The Evil Horse (making their Grandma debut in this round!) comes to us from Isis at Poe Classical School. This horse hates “everything under the sun,” from donuts, to chicken wings, to having fun. Company member Rawson Vint turned Isis’s poem into a song - and now, The Evil Horse’s hatred of everything lives on in BOM infamy.
Hello little kiddies, little ponies, and fillies
I’m an evil horse you see.
I hate everything from donuts to chicken wings
Don’t put them in front of me.
2) Mrs. Rawson
Mrs. Rawson - a character created by the aforementioned Evil-Horse-song-writing Rawson - originated in the story “How To Get to School in a Fast/Safe Way” by Maggie, Mira, Branden, Sydney, and Javon from Lincolnwood Elementary. They wrote the tale during Persuasive Argument Day, a part of Barrel of Monkeys residencies when we ask students to argue for or against a specific stance.
These students argued that bosses should allow their employees to pick their kids up from school during the workday - and Mrs. Rawson illustrates why this would make the world a better place. When Mom needs to stay late at work, she calls her friend Mrs. Rawson to pick her kids up from school - but thanks to Mrs. Rawson’s not-so-wonderful driving skills, the kids end up in a wild car ride involving lots of swerving, speeding, and near-collisions.
We believe… work should let parents drive and pick up kids to schools. Rocket cars could make the drop off fasters. It is safer when parents drop kids off. Parents know where to go. Your parents get worried when they aren’t the ones. We need our parents!
3) The Man Who Farted
The Man Who Farted comes to us from Angel at Graves Elementary in Summit, IL. The Man has a problem with flatulence - and his diet filled with broccoli and tacos certainly doesn’t help. We turned his tribulations into a classical choir piece - and of course, added in some appropriate sound effects.
The Man was eating cereal then the man farted the man was eating broccoli the man farted again the man was eating tacos the man farted loud the end.
Join us for this Sunday’s opening performance of That’s Weird, Grandma: Star-Studded Stories for more BOM stars. The fun starts at 3pm at the Neo-Futurist Theater in Andersonville - get tickets ahead of time here.
We’re excited for That’s Weird, Grandma: Star-Studded Stories to begin this Sunday afternoon! This round of our public sketch show features some of our favorite stories BOM students have written about pop-culture icons, from Migos, to Prince, to Stranger Things characters.
We sat down with the director of this round, Mary Tilden (also BOM’s Education Coordinator) to talk about the stories she’s most excited about - as well as who her favorite star is! Take a look, then join us for the show Sundays at 3pm at The Neo-Futurist Theater now through February 17. We have half-price adult tickets at this Sunday’s preview performance - learn more here.
Normally, I’m Barrel of Monkeys’ Artistic Director, and I am caught behind the scenes directing shows. I’m thrilled about this show because I got to hand the directing reigns over to the amazing Ana Velazquez, who has been leading us through such a fun rehearsal process for our next school show at Columbia Explorers Academy (BOM’s longest School Partner). The cast is comprised of long-time BOM all-stars, as well as several of our new stars who joined BOM in the fall. Check out these photos of us having fun singing, laughing and putting our creative minds together to create this fantastic show for CEA’s students!
We start rehearsal by learning a Spanish-language song by an amazing Artistic Associate, Allison Grischow, seen here teaching Mary Tilden and Joan Figarella. It’s a story about a Dolphin Baby and Unicorn Baby. It’s cute and hilarious!
While some of us learn music, our Production Manager Krista Mickelson brings some of our new folks into our props/costume closet so they can choose all the perfect items they need for the show. Artistic Associates Taylor Galloway, Aissa Guerra, and Donny Acosta are loving those fake flowers.
Mary and Joan pose with Ana - in addition to directing, she’s also designing some neat rib cage props!
Aissa and I have found our Perfect Costumes for an underwater story (thanks for the amazing costume donation, David Rosenberg and Krista’s Mom!)
Taylor and fellow Artistic Associate Devin Sanclemente rehearse a song about “Life and Birds.” Taylor wrote the song and we’re featuring Devin as the wise old lark.
All-Star and BOM Program Director Shá Norman plays “The Old Man” in Taylor’s song, along with some bird friends: Donny, Mariana Green, Allison, and Mary.
And we end rehearsal reviewing an incredible story with Mariana on guitar, Jayson Acevedo as Bob Dylan, Allison as Albert Einstein, and Mary as Isaac Newton. It’s WEIRD AND AMAZING!
Thanks for checking out our blog - we are so excited for the Columbia Explorers Academy show on Friday morning! Keep an eye on our Instagram story for live updates from the show.
