Playmakers Blog | Playmakers Laboratory

Kristie’s 10-Year Wish List!

Posted by Amanda Farrar on March 31, 2011

You may have noticed some of our wonderful company members posting their wish list of runlists for the 10-Year Anniversary performance of “That’s Weird, Grandma” at 7pm and 9pm on Monday, April 11, 2011 (get your tickets soon - tickets are already half gone)!

Artistic Director, Luke Hatton, had a heck of a time picking from all the gems of stories from the last 10 years, made even more difficult having to figure in 2 from every year TWG has been happening, and taking into account the 40 (YES - 40) Monkeys who are performing. I think that may constitute more than one barrel…

Anyway, amazing emeritus member, Kristie Koehler Vuocolo, shares her utopian 10 year show with us!

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So here’s my dream runlist with how I’m feeling on this particular day. NOSTALGIC. So most of these picks are from the first couple of years of TWG. When it was a hot “LATE NIGHT SHOW.” Mondays at 9pm…now that was BRILLIANT MARKETING! :)

1. I AM CELINE DION
Matt Miller Oscar-worthy performance of the Diva herself…complete with an air lift of our tiny co-founder, Erica Rosenfeld.

2. ROGER AND HIS 24 GIRLFRIENDS
Roger swears this is only funny because Austin Powers was popular back then. But I’ll take Roger Ainslie over Mike Meyers any day!

3. THE GEEK
This one really illustrated the power of what we do. A kid wrote a one-sentence story called the Geek. Here it is: “I am a Geek. The End.” We turned it into a 30-second powerhouse opera starring our Turkish star, Selen.

4, THE DOG WHO LOVED WATER
Ahh, I remember it was like yesterday. Twas the middle of the afternoon. Jonathan Mastro as the dog, makin’ love to some H2O.

5. JOSHUA AND MARIAH
We turned this one, about a wife going into labor and her husband taking her to the hospital, into a rap, Fresh Prince style. Here the kid is brilliant… commenting that Mariah had to drive faster to the hospital because her water just broke.

6. THE EXPLODING CHEESEBURGER
(Not sure of the real title, but Jonathan Mastro was the exploding burger and was trying to get a date…Jimmy Durante style, TYPICAL.)

7. THE MUSEUM
Molly Brennan serves up the line, “Would you like some “eyeball ice cream?” and “That was the end…OF CINDI AND DAVID.”

8. MY DOG BISHOP
Lisa Barker introduces us to her dog, Bishop. WATCH THIS!

9. FUNNY BUNNY
My favorite moment was chomping on Ryan Walters’ fingers that portrayed the leaves of the tree where Funny Bunny lived. 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

10. DIRTY
This is story about a homeless guy. Who lived in the sewers. In the suburbs. With the Rats. We turned it into a blues number…but suddenly then Jason Sperling comes along with some Tacks. And ruins EVERYTHING.

11. HE WRESTLED A BEAR
We tried to think of a theme song to end this one…the only thing we could come up with was singing “He Wrestled a Bear ” to the tune of “It had to be you.” I think we were sort of joking, but then it stuck.

12. WOMAN RAMPAGE
One of the first songs not written by the official musical directors…Classic Broadway Brilliance. “Where Women and Men and…FOOD can all be free.”

13. BIG SMELLY GARLIC
Put artistic director Luke Hatton in a smurf hat and give him the voice of an 11-year-old boy going through puberty and you have BIG SMELLY GARLIC.

14. U CAN’T WIN
Tom Malinowski is your host. Elmo is his sidekick and Al Gore is eating meatballs. U really CAN’T lose with this one.

15. HOMEO AND RULILET
Ryan Walters was always drawn to Shakespeare. Poor Homeo. Born in a bathtub.

16. MR. BONES
Whoops!...Mr. Bones

17.CHEERLEADERS
So many versions of this one…but who’s going to fight it out for team captain, you guys? Kayla. Shut it

18. TWO OLD MENS WHO KNOW HOW TO DO KARATE
Picture the title. Now picture Miller and Ainslie with their pants pulled up to their chins. There you have it.

19. FRIENDLY MAN
Jonathan Mastro IS friendly Man.

20. I REMEMBER THE DAY I BROKE MY 2 FRONT TEETH
coined the title of the show.
GRANDMA ME: “My teeth weren’t always so Pearly White. One day they were a BLOODY WRECK.”
GRANDCHILD: That’s Weird, Grandma.

Thank you to the Monkeys

Posted by Amanda Farrar on December 15, 2010

Company Members School Residencies

We thought you would enjoy this note written to the Monkeys from Catlalli R. from Columbia Explorers Academy.

Happy Holidays!

MVP 2009-2010: Donnell Williams

Posted by Tai on June 11, 2010

Company Members Celebration of Authors

Every June, after the Monkeys celebrate the authors, teachers, and schools that we work with, we reconvene at a secret location to celebrate our fellow company members at our annual post-Celebration of Authors party and awards ceremony. Awards are given out recognizing everyone’s outstanding work in our school performances throughout the past year, such as “Best Shady Character,” “Best Creature,” and “Most Heartfelt.” (This year’s stories featured numerous appearances by our nation’s President, so a “Best Obama” award was warranted.)

At the end of the ceremony, the prestigious Tom Malinowski Award for Enthusiasm and Commitment to Monkey Greatness is presented. Our Artistic Director, Luke Hatton, describes it as such: “It is bestowed upon an individual in the company who made extraordinary contributions toward the success of Barrel of Monkeys this year.” Previous recipients of this award include Sarah Goeden, Curtis Williams, Mike Spatafora, Luke Hatton, Tai Palmgren, Jason Sperling, and Rachel Wilson.

Joining their ranks this year is Donnell Williams.

Celebration of Authors - TOMORROW!

Posted by Amanda Farrar on June 7, 2010

That's Weird Grandma TWG Weekly Update Company Members Celebration of Authors School Shows After School Program

Sadly, there will not be a performance of “That’s Weird Grandma” this evening. Happily, there WILL be a FREE performance tomorrow night! Tuesday, June 8 at 7pm, Barrel of Monkeys will perform Celebration of Authors at the Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4701 Martin Luther King Dr. Click here to make a reservation!

Because artistic director extraordinaire, Luke Hatton, was so generous in offering me a part in this year’s Celebration of Authors, I have been spending much of my time in the last week watching the brilliant Monkeys at work, attempting to keep up, and on my own, doing some intense Michael Jackson choreography research.

Being in the room with the Monkeys at work is like nothing I have ever experienced in my decades in the performing arts (albeit, the majority of which had a heavy dance emphasis). Just the term “team work” does not really do this group justice. I have seen the Monkeys work as a small group in the classrooms, but that controlled chaos pales in comparison to that in the rehearsal room when there are 35 Monkeys!

I was amazed watching rehearsal for “The Tale of the Twelve Hip Hop Dancing Proncess”. While Carly was reviewing choreography with everyone, Philip was teaching the vocals, and on the side, Musical Director Laura had an idea of layering in some more vocals. She touched base with fellow Monkey musician Erick to see what he thought. As he was encouraging, she went to Philip to see what he was good with it. After a quick agreement from Philip, Laura had Mari and Rachel on their feet playing around with the additional vocals. After some wrangling by Artistic Director Luke Hatton, and approximately 30 minutes, the play was ready to go!

I’ve always loved the process of art making, and the Monkeys have the process to beat all processes!

The most amazing thing is that the passion and dedication of each individual Monkey is inspired by one thing: the children. The intense urge of each Monkey to do justice to the student author’s story and make them proud is palpable. The question after a performance by a Monkey is never “How was I?” it is “What did the author do when we were performing his/her story?”

Come see the Monkeys perform 30 brilliant stories written by students this school year, and better yet, see the students’ reactions.

Runlist below!