Posted by Rachel on October 11, 2010
School Residencies
We’re off, we’re off!
The fact that a day off from school actually feels like a break tells me we’re well into the school year. Normally, at this time on a Monday, I’d be at Loyola Park, helping the 9-10-year-olds in our after-school program create original superhero characters. And my first residency of the school year, Avondale, is already in its fifth week.
Last week was Dialogue Day, which means the kids get to suggest lots of characters for each other to play when they improvise scenes. Dialogue Day is easily my favorite lesson because it results in conversations like this one from Dewey last year:
ME: Would you rather play Invisible Girl or Nose-Picking Boy?
STUDENT: (after a looooong pause) They’re both good.
Yes, yes, they are both so good, but these are the decisions we have to make as artists.
Last week at Avondale, a girl wrote a dialogue between a girl and the monster who was about to eat her. She gave the girl a line that went something like this: “Wait, let me put on some makeup! A girl has to look her best before getting eaten.”
Who knows whether that gem will end up on stage? We’ll have to wait for November to find out for sure. It’s kind of beside the point, because kids in every single residency we teach write lines that goofy-delicious, and they make us, their teachers, laugh, and I think they have fun doing it whether or not they ever see those words performed on stage.
Posted by Luke on October 11, 2010
That's Weird Grandma
TWG Weekly Update
Woo Hoo!
New round of Columbus Day TWG goodness opens tonight.
Come see JFK meet his tragic end, despite the emphatic warning of a Whopper Jr!
Or come to witness two spooky classics- the tale of the Rocking Chair and The Day I Found Out I Had Ghost.
Password for $2 off at the box office is “I HAVE GHOST”.
Be at it.
Runlist and stories below!
Read more
Posted by Amanda Farrar on October 6, 2010
That's Weird Grandma
School Shows
School Residencies
After School Program
Hello Blogosphere! I’m here to tell you about an amazing event that will be occurring very soon. For the past 9 years, Barrel of Monkeys has been presenting our Fancy Schmancy Benefit for the enjoyment of all and more importantly, to support our programming in under-resourced Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Park Districts. In order to truly embrace the nature of our writing residencies at the event, the theme of the evening will be “Magical Place”, based upon an audience favored story penned by Dulce H. from Columbia Explorers Academy* when she was in 4th grade. Read this story and so many more in our Story Archive!
Be amazed by the Magical Place that Fancy Schmancy will be at 7pm on Friday, October 22 at the Ravenswood Event Center, 4025 N. Ravenswood Ave. More info here! Purchase tickets or make a fully tax-deductible donation here!
The evening will be something like this. (But not quite.)
Fancy 10.5 from Barrel of Monkeys on Vimeo.
We are particularly excited about seeing Magical Place return to the stage after a year-long run and a four month hiatus during the live performance at the event.
Other highlights: New this year is a raffle for a trip for two to New York City to see Saturday Night Live! Includes round-trip airfare for two and two tickets to a live taping of SNL. Sorry to say that raffle laws prevent selling tickets online, but they are on sale weekly at “That’s Weird, Grandma” up until the drawing on October 22 - no need to be in attendance to WIN!
And! We are procuring some pretty incredibly unique and exciting auction items which we will tell you more about in future blog entries. Stay tuned, and monkey on!
*This school year will mark Barrel of Monkeys’ 10th Anniversary of partnering with Columbia Explorers Academy!
Posted by Luke on October 3, 2010
That's Weird Grandma
TWG Weekly Update
Sometimes in Barrel of Monkeys we throw around the term “new piece with words and movement.” Often we give an award at the end of the school year for “best new piece with words and movement” when someone has devised some new physical theater-y piece that’s sort of hard to describe or put in a box.
These pieces can be bizarre or exciting, as is the case with this week’s new story, Where I’m From (Underwater).
So, I will not try to describe it….you’ll just have to come see it or…experience it? It’s more of an experience.
Also this is the LAST show of this round, so many great pieces may vanish next week due to cast turnover.
Grannies Lean Like a Cholo??????
If you haven’t seen this one yet, you’ll wanna come this Monday! It MIGHT be it’s last week. I don’t know. I won’t be in charge of those decisions next week, Lacy will. But she has a phobia of rapping grandmas*, so I wouldn’t count on it sticking around….
It will all be glorious. You should stop in.
$2 off at the box office by simply saying “Starfish”.
Show list with story links below.
*unsubstantiated
Read more
Posted by Luke on September 26, 2010
That's Weird Grandma
TWG Weekly Update
Okay, the voting last week made it clear that the grandma did a little too much farting in the show, so we’ve scaled it back. She’s still makes one appearance, but not three. I think it’s more balanced this way.
Still gracing the stage this week are runaway favorites The Dog was Dead and Grannies Lean Like a Cholo.
New and sweet additions to the show this week include:
The Lost Gameboy- a timeless classic where David journeys all over school for his prized possession.
Untitled (I am normal too)- a compilation of arguments by deaf students from the AG Bell program about how they’d like to be perceived.
AND
Vampire or Not?- a dialogue between “3 good queens, and 2 evil Kings, and 2 men.” (and a vampire)
Come on up the stairs at the Neo-Futurarium to witness the greatness!
Password for $2 off at the box office is “Gameboy”.
Read more
