Posted by Amanda Farrar on September 21, 2009
Company Members
My first blog entry for BOM! I have just passed my one-month anniversary as official Barrel of Monkeys Executive Director. And I have to say that never have I been welcomed into an organization so warmly and funly. Each day, the staff greets me with smiles and copious information. My brain was so full by the end of my first week, I was afraid to say goodbye and wish everyone well on the retreat for fear of information falling out of my brain through my mouth hole. But, I have since gotten a hold on most of the pertinent information, and with the staff and board, have begun work on many many plans.
One of the amazing parts of my job is that I get to go see That’s Weird Grandma frequently! Slowly and surely, I have been meeting Monkeys, and learning so very many names – sometimes multiple names for each Monkey. As if one-per-person wasn’t a challenge enough!
I am so excited to be a part of this company I don’t even know where to start! Even the challenges are fascinating and thrilling. As a third generation teacher, coming to an organization that concentrates on education feels like coming home. I know that art has changed my life, and I have seen it change the lives of others. And, laughing each and every day has to beat an apple a day in the doctor department, so thanks also for improving my health.
Posted by Tai on June 12, 2009
Company Members
Celebration of Authors
Last year, I told you all about how at BOM’s post-COA party, we are all given silly awards for our various roles in school shows over the year, such as “Best Villain,” “Best Choreography,” or “Best Improvised Line.” There are a few awards given out at the end of the evening that are a little less silly, the most notable being the MVP Award, officially known as The Tom Malinowski Award For Enthusiasm and Commitment To Monkey Greatness. Company members nominate the Monkey who we feel has, in Artistic Director Luke Hatton’s words, “gone far beyond the call of duty in their, well, enthusiasm and commitment to the company.”
This year, the prestigious Malinowski Award went to Rachel Wilson.
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Posted by Rachel on March 5, 2009
Company Members
Podcasts
Over the summer and fall, we lost a few good men. I wrote a post about Eric and Jonathan’s last school show at the time, and no, I still can’t deal.
When John Dixon left, it wasn’t such a clean break, more of a . . . “checking out the New York scene,” “probably be back in a month or two,” kind of a thing. Maybe he wanted to let us down easy . . . maybe he’s really not sure . . . he’ll come back to us . . . one day, one day . . .
(Hey, wait a second! How John left, that’s a lot like how it sounded when Lauren Sharpe left, and she just got cast as a New York Neo-futurist. Hmmmm. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the Monkeys are happy for her, but . . . but no. This post isn’t about Sharpe. That wound is still too fresh.)
This post is about the men who are featured, together, even in their absence, in our most recent podcast, “My First Girlfriend” by Tyberius W., from, that’s right, that storied Chalmers show.
See, we won’t let them leave. We recorded little parts of them . . .
The voice-of-an-angel Silverberg part . . .
The mad-genius-composer Mastro part . . .
And the “shoot, that boy can rap” Dixon part . . .
(The faces of the spellbound children in this photo have been blurred to protect their privacy—OR MAYBE they’re blurry from trying to keep up with the AWESOME! Dixon’s face has not been blurred to protect his privacy. He can’t keep up with his own awesome.)
Silverberg, Mastro, and Dixon each recorded their parts—individually—in the days before they left town. Przygoda played some guitar, and . . . he stayed. We’re still trying to figure out how this song works. Its powers. Its limits.
And Mike Tutaj FUSED them all together with the magic of DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDING and MIXING and RADIOACTIVE LIGHTNING BLASTS!!! Or something. He did that thing he does.
Then, long after all the other parts were recorded, Christina, and Dixie, and I huddled together between some curtains and eggcrating in Mike Tutaj’s hallway, and it was hard to get around the curtain if you needed to use the bathroom, and we only had one headset for a lot of the time until Christina thought of using her iPod headphones, and our MEN HAD LEFT US! OUR MEN!
It was an emotional time.
We recorded our back-up diva parts in harmony with the robotic shadows of our frontmen. And that’s how you get a song about lost love. Oh, Tyberius, we feel your pain! We’re right there with you!
Posted by Heidi on August 21, 2008
Company Members
I am extremely pleased to announce that we have hired Luke Hatton as our new Artistic Director.
As you can see, he’s pretty serious about the job.
As many of our most devoted friends know, a little over a year ago BOM co-founder and Artistic Director Halena Kays announced that she was taking a sabbatical for the 2007-2008 program year while she pursued other opportunities. In the interim we hired the amazing Laura Grey to serve as Artistic Director. For the last year Laura has directed “That’s Weird, Grandma” and most of our school shows, provided exemplary artistic leadership and direction, and generally lived up to our very high expectations of her skills and abilities. During her sabbatical Halena decided that BOM was in good hands, and she was free to go to graduate school and dream up new amazing things.
Meanwhile, Laura is so dang talented that The Second City hired her to write and perform with them. For the last six months or so Laura has been doing the equivalent of holding two full time jobs, and she’s continued to meet and exceed our artistic hopes and dreams. Sadly though, she can’t continue this balancing act and will be stepping down as Artistic Director at the end of August. While this is sad for me in the office, it may be a delight for you the dedicated monkey fan as we will regain her as a performer in our school shows and the occasional run of TWG.
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