After teaching creative writing residencies in a Chicago Public School or the Chicago Park District, teaching artists collect the students’ notebooks and share them with several of the company’s ensemble of professional actors and musicians. Together, the teaching artists, actors, and musicians adapt selected stories for the stage and return to the school to present an original performance drawn entirely from the student-written material.
The experience of seeing their work performed in front of an audience of their peers is profoundly moving and empowering for the student-authors. The experience of performing student-work for the authors themselves can be intensely challenging and stressful for the Monkeys, because as much as we try, not every adaptation is an A+. As Oona Kersey Hatton experienced, students can be our greatest critics and our greatest teachers.
How do the story adaptations currently being performed in That’s Weird, Grandmameasure up? Come judge for yourself. Tickets available now for Sundays at 2pm through April 26 and only 2 more Monday at 8pm performances!
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Adventures in Adaptation
By: Oona Kersey Hatton
I joined Barrel of Monkeys in 2000. At that time we were rehearsing in a converted warehouse space that was used during the day as a doggie daycare. It had a concrete floor and was surprisingly clean, with only the faintest redolence of the daytime occupants.
I was so excited to be in the ensemble, and I had signed up for the first show of the year. One of my first adaptations was a collaboration with Ryan Walters, Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, and Tom Malinowski. I remember very little about the story except that it involved two forest animals getting into a heated altercation that they ultimately brought to the Bottom of the Pond (personified) for mediation. I played the Bottom of the Pond. Other cast members played Bugs Bunny (an example of how celebrity characters frequently appear in stories, often out of context) and other small mammals.
We had a great time with our adaptation, which showed the animals getting into a fight and then trying to resolve the dispute by all sharing their versions of “what really happened.” This meant that we essentially acted out the story three times. In our creative vision, the differences in each repetition—which relied on subtle adjustments to character portrayal—were increasingly hilarious and absurd. In reality, the satire would have been impossible for an audience of any age to discern—first, because the size and acoustics of the performance space would have rendered any but the most exaggerated contrasts impossible to discern, and second, because the audience had very little opportunity to get to know the characters and therefore would have difficulty grasping how they were being parodied.
If this criticism seems a little heady, take the word of an audience member from that fateful morning. A student sitting in the front row turned to her companion in the middle of our performance and exclaimed, “this story is too long.” We immediately recognized that her assessment was correct, and we enjoyed repeating this pithy critique for years to come.
I left that morning with a few thoughts that my next ten years in Barrel of Monkeys would confirm:
1. The audience is always right.
2. Repetition needs justification.
3. Not every adaptation will be a slam dunk.
I use these and hundreds of other Barrel of Monkeys-lessons every day as I teach and continue to make theatre.
That’s Weird, Grandma welcomes The Pepper Festival by Keairra M. from the Burnham Anthony Academy to it’s line up!
It’s a song with a little country flare and peppery spice composed by company member Geoff Rice!
Here is the story:
The Pepper Festival by Keairra M., Burnham Anthony Academy
Once upon a time there was a pepper festival. They had all kinds of peppers. Big ones small ones tall ones. They had balloons that look like peppers. It was a nice sunny day. The festival was near a forest. They had a lot of people carrying the big balloon. Some people even fell over trying to hold it down. Some people brought their family down to the festival. They had a picnic. The pepper festival only comes around once. The pepper festival came on July 5. One of the balloons flew away. The Balloons made big shadows. Bigger than a tree shadows. They pass pepper candles out at night. So people can wave them. They had fireworks that spelled peppers. And they had one in the shape of peppers. The pepper festival happens in every city. So everyone gets a chance to see the peppers. Sometimes they had a contest on the biggest pepper. The person with the biggest pepper gets a year supply of peppers. Last year Molly Patton won. She fainted when she heard the news. Also the person who wins against the world they get one of the big balloons. Many people participate. So why don’t you come to the pepper festival. THE END.
Say “So why don’t you come to the Pepper Festival?” To Ambar at the box office for discounted tickets!
Rosanna & Buck are so very excited to have you all at their BIG Wedding, which also happens to be Barrel of Monkeys’ fundraiser, The Big Wedding: Everyone Get Married. Strange how that worked out. Don’t have your tickets to the event yet? Purchase them now! And we’ll see you at 7pm on Saturday, March 28!
The auction items are rolling in, and they are super duper stellar! In case you like to plan in advance, here is a preview of just some of the outstanding packages available to you for bid the night of the event.
One-of-a-kind, Once-in-a-lifetime Experiences!
• Dinner Party! Elise Mayfield competed on Masterchef, and now she competes for your approval in your very home! Elise and company member Kate Staiger work together to serve you a 5-course meal for 6 guests in your home with drink pairings for each course.
• YA Book Club in a Box! Does the young adult in your home (or the young adult in your heart) want to start a book club? Let us take the work out of that for you and up the ante…in this package you get 7 copies each of Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson, Believe by Sarah Aronson, and The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson. IN ADDITION each author will visit your book club in person (or via skype) to engage in your group discussion about their novel.
• Too Much Light…In Your Life! Win this, and Neo-Futurist Nick Hart will write a short play based upon an event in YOUR LIFE. He will sign it and give it to you. Also you will be able to see your autobiographer on the stage with 2 tickets to Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.
Get out of Town…Vacations!?!
• Disney Vacation! Includes 4 one-day park hopper passes to Orlando’s Walt Disney World and a week-long stay at a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo at Orange Lake Resort.
• Downtown Excursion! Need a staycation? We’ve got it planned for you. This package includes a one night stay at The Westin, a $100 gift certificate to Beatrix, and two tickets to The Joffrey Ballet’s New Works.
• Madison Getaway! Just a hop skip and jump north you will enjoy a trip to Wisconsin’s capital with 2 tickets to Four Seasons Theatre’s Guys and Dolls, $150 gift card to Food Fight, Inc. which can be used at your choice of 17 local restaurants, and a two-night stay at Sheraton Madison Motel.
We got your Ticket Hookups Right Here!
• A Day of Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! See a live taping of Chicago Public Radio’s darling hour-long weekly radio news panel game hosted by Peter Sagal. This package includes 2 tickets to the taping and $125 gift certificate to Rock Bottom Brewery.
• Steve Harvey! Go to a taping of TV personality, comedian, radio show host and best-selling author, Steve Harvey’s show! Each weekday, Harvey talks to real people with real issues and brings his funny, fresh, insightful and common sense approach to everyday problems.
• Baconfest 2015! Baconfest is a fun-filled, walk-around tasting event featuring the most creative bacon dishes from the best chefs in Chicago. Enjoy 2 VIP early-entrance all-access passes to this bacon-lovers dream!
• C2E2 and MORE! As if two 3-day passes to Chicago’s best pop culture event (where you can see Barrel of Monkeys perform!) was not enough, this package also includes a vintage Star Wars Lego set and 2 vintage Star Wars figures of YOUR CHOICE on reproduced cards.
• Rollin in the Aisles! It’s your very own Chicago comedy subscription! Includes tickets to The Second City, Laugh Factory, iO, Comedy Sportz, Zanie’s, and Annoyance Theatre.
AND THAT’S NOT ALL! Stay tuned for more auction items, including exciting excursions, family events, fitness and spa, and even more!
Our confidently weird all musical performance of That’s Weird, Grandma just keeps getting better!
Sammy the Eel returns to That’s Weird, Grandma and with him he brings laughs, tears, and gorgeous voices!
Check out the story below and preview the song here
Sammy the Eel by Carnail A., Chalmers School of Excellence
Once there was an eel named Sammy.
He had a great life and eel good friends.
He also had a family that loved him and always showed it to him.
Sammy always paid his electric bill.
All the people who knew Sammy said he was a very good person.
He also had a pet fish named Timmy.
One day Sammy went to church because he always went to church.
The next day Sammy was on his way to church and he saw sea waste a women screamed my baby a little boy was trapped on a piece of waste.
He went to get the little boy to safety.
And he got the boy free but got stuck.
They also had a funeral for Sammy at church of his poor sweat death.
THE END.
Say “Sammy the eel had a great life” to Ambar at the box office for discounted tickets!
You got two chances this week, Sunday at 2pm and Monday at 8pm!
In each and every school show since Barrel of Monkeys’ inception in 1997, one or more student-written stories have been adapted into song for the stage. Multiply that by upwards of 15 original school shows each year, and you have a couple hundred songs in the archives!
We have so many songs, in fact, that presentlyThat’s Weird, Grandma is an all-musical revue! You can see 16 of some of our most favored songs adapted from the incredible work of student writers this Sunday at 2pm and Monday at 8pm. Jennifer Johnson, author of the following blog entry and current performer in That’s Weird Grandma: The Musical, shares some of her most favorite epic Barrel of Monkeys songs that have not yet made their way into the current show! Enjoy celebrating the power of these students’ imaginations!
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My Favorite Epic Barrel of Monkeys Songs
By Jennifer Johnson
In the classroom, we encourage students in Barrel of Monkeys writing programs to continue stories they’ve started or we ask specific questions to further their creativity during the writing process. Sometimes, a student is ready to write! And the product is long, detailed, complicated, creative and fabulous. Below are my favorite epically long stories written by students in Chicago Public Schools that we’ve turned into songs.
Sculpting Alaska
By Gautam R., Hough Street School
“Let the competition begin,” boomed the announcer, as I quickly started planning out my ice sculpture. Scrape, scrape, scrape, went my carving tool as I knocked away ice. This was the regular carving routine. We were at the 2000 year end ice sculpting contest in Alaska. Nobody would think of such a wonderful sculpture as a fish sculpture. “Hey Jimmy,” a voice shouted, how you doing? Continued!
Sculpting Alaska was brilliantly staged using the entire cast. There are so many great characters to play in this story/song. Two people even played the actual ice sculptures!
IRS Moles
By Ben L., Hough Street School
Eeooo! The sirens rang throughout the city. Speakers popped out of buildings. “Run, the IRS Moles are coming” said the speakers. Everyone ran. They knew that moles would make them pay. “Come on” said Harold to his mother as they ran. “But the cookies” said his mother, “we need them.” “We’ll have to leave them” said Harold. “Dang” said his sister. “I say we fight back against this tax collecting” said Bob who was 2 and very smart. Continued!
I was in the original cast of this—I got to sing “Dang, not the cookies!” It’s one of the best lines I’ve ever sung in a BOM song!
By Dorian W., South Loop School
Once upon a time there was a man named Truman. And he was joining the Big Race finals to win $300. When he was practicing he run 5 miles a day. When he run home he took his dog out and ran with his dog. His dog was named Ace. His dog was really nice and could run so fast. He was the fastest dog in the whole world. Truman was a gym teacher. Continued!
I love The Race because in the end Truman races by jumping in the sack—it’s so exciting to watch!
The Evil Kangaroo
By Emilio G., Loyola Park After School Program
Once upon a time in 1212 BC and now in the middle of the ocean there was a city named Freeopolis that no one knew about. Everyone was happy until Professor Wiggems built an experiment on kangaroos. It went completely wrong. The kangaroo escaped and destroyed the city, then when there’s no hope left it’s to be continued…The island sinks and the kangaroo finds a boat. Continued!
Emilio G. wrote many stories about evil kangaroos and Professor Wiggems, but this one is my favorite! It’s staged with lots of action and verses!
A long story creates a wonderful basis for a musical theatre masterpiece!
