Posted by Lacy on November 21, 2009
School Shows
After School Program
Today, on the anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, I pose this challenge to all Barrel of Monkeys company members, ensemble, and fans:
Ask not what you can do to completely blow the mind of young authors, but what young authors can do to completely blow your mind.
Not so much of a “challenge” as a tastelessly-worded setup to this dialogue written by BJ at the Loyola Park Afterschool Program, to be performed at the Loyola Park show on Monday.
In the words of many pretentious Shakespearean actors: sometimes all you can do is get out of the way of the text.
Characters: John F. Kennedy
Whopper Jr. (JFK’s Friend)
Setting: Burger King in Washington, DC
JFK: O my goodness which should I get Whopper or Whopper Jr.
WJ: John! John! Pick Me! We need to talk.
JFK: I get a whopper with onions so what do you want to talk about
WJ: I don’t think you should go to Dallas-something is wrong here. I don’t have a good feeling about this trip.
(They are off to the 1.5 million $ plane)
JFK: The whopper is good. I have to go. I feel you.
(They arrive in Dallas & get in the Rolls Royce)
WJ: John, be careful out there. I don’t want to have to go back to Washington without you.
JFK: I told Bush that I will be here.
(JFK is in the car, 25 miles away, waving to the people. 5 minutes later somebody shoots him and the car rushes to the hospital.)
JFK (cont’d): Take care of the country
(and about 3:00 he die)
WJ: John! John, come back! (with anger) I told you this would happen. (with determination) I will find the killer if it’s the last thing I do.
It’s happening at the Loyola Park show on Monday. I don’t think you’ll want to miss this one.
Posted by Lacy on November 21, 2009
That's Weird Grandma
School Shows
After School Program
As Thanksgiving approaches, I look forward to the sights and sounds of the holiday season, including cheaply made electric lights, dried brush and trees, and unattended candles, all warming my 900-square-foot condo.
Speaking of mansions, perhaps this is a good time to take a look at instances of devastating housefires in both That’s Weird, Grandma and the very exciting Loyola Park After School Program show, BOTH happening Monday.
In Grandma, we have “The King and The Queen,” in which Miranda, the young queen, has a bad morning, after which she “went outside, put the mansion on fire, and left the mansion burning to flames.”
Well. Heavens.
In an untitled opus by Jaerell, making its debut at the Loyola Park show, the lead character Kenny arrives home after winning a cruise around the world, to find his luck has come to an abrupt end: “when the cruise was over, Kenny called a taxi driver but when he got into the taxi Kenny asked the address the taxi driver said the mansion was burned by people just by accident.”
People, people.
We MUST STOP BURNING our MANSIONS!
Sadly, neither character recovers from the disaster or resulting homelessness (second lesson: MAKE FRIENDS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE SPARE BEDROOMS) (OR AT LEAST A FUTON). The narrator from The King and The Queen informs us that Miranda “was on the street looking for money so since she didn’t have food so she died,” while over at Loyola Park, “Kenny was shocked he became homeless by the next 100 days Kenny died of heart attack Kenny was 63 years old. Fin.”
Sixty-three. So young. And Miranda was only 25. Cry, cry, monkeys. Cry.
So, what have we learned?
Fire leads to starvation and cardiac arrest.
Kenny’s story has a surprisingly artistic/european end. Or maybe Jaerell was suddenly thinking about sharks?
Food for thought this Thanksgiving, friends. I’ll mull it over while I decorate a fire extinguisher and arrange garlands attractively around our newly installed sprinkler system.
Posted by Bradford on November 19, 2009
After missing two weeks battling the dreaded flu bug, it felt so nice returning to Columbia Explorers; I missed the kids so much. And of course, there was no better way to show my gratitude, than sitting on one of the kids desk and breaking it. I tried to ‘play it off ’ as one would say, but of course EVERYBODY noticed, especially Desiree. Jason and I made a few brave attempts to repair said desk, but finally threw our hands in the air and told Ms. Juarez that it was totally hopeless. Lesson learned my friends? Dialogue day with the kids at Columbia Explorers = great fun. A 6’4”, 200 pound monkey teacher sitting on one of his student’s desk= not so much!! Never the less, fun times were had by all. Happy Thanksgiving!!! Yes!!!
Posted by Amanda Farrar on November 19, 2009
You want to give BOM $25,000 to help us do our important work but don’t have the cash on hand? It is possible! Are you on Facebook? If so, you may have noticed the barrage from nonprofit organizations in the last week to get your votes for their organization through Chase Community Giving. We have been one of those organizations! This is because Chase has decided to go to the public to decide who should get their very-much-needed-and-in-demand charitable donations which will total $5 mil. Therefore, they have gone to the premiere social networking site (sorry, Myspace and Friendster!), Facebook, to collect these votes. Each person gets 20 votes, but can only vote for a single nonprofit once (Not at all like what we’ve become accustomed to from reality television shows!).
As of 3:05pm on Thursday, November 19, 2009, we have 60 votes! This is pretty incredible, but I’m sure it is going to take more than that to get to the $25,000+ that Chase is offering to 106 different charities.
In order to take part in the voting, become a fan of Chase Community Giving, then search for your favorite charities (hopefully us first!), and get to voting. Don’t forget to post your votes to your profile to encourage all your friends to take part as well!
Posted by Luke on November 15, 2009
That's Weird Grandma
Boom!
There are some new and beautiful pieces going into the show this week.
First we have “Big Things” describing many, well, big things. E.g. “Your imagination is big because you can think of many great ideas.”
Also, the poem is staged in a really awesome way with stellar prop design by our own Dixie Uffelman.
The second piece going into the show also features Ms. Uffelman and Ms. Elizabeth Levy.
Rather than try to put into words the intricacies of “Untitled (Setting:Library)”, let’s just show you a picture:
Come to the Neo-Futurarium on Monday night at 8pm to see these beauties! (and many more).
Buy tickets here!
Full running order (with updated links!) belooooooow.
Read more
