Posted by Tom on November 9, 2009
School Shows
Hello there! Last week, Barrel of Monkeys started rehearsing for the Avondale school show. The school show is this Friday, November 13th, and we have three more rehearsals left, but let’s talk about last week when we started!
Rehearsal #1 - Luke is directing the show, which consists of 13 Monkeys. Among them are two of the teachers who taught at Avondale, Rachel and Calliope. We read a lot of stories, since three classrooms are represented. The students are in 5th grade. We picked about six stories to perform, and it was a blast! Whew!
Rehearsal #2 - We adapted more stories, and the laughter was non-stop. Some of the stories are about robot babysitters, a pregnant man, and a limousine full of famous celebrities!
Rehearsal #3 - Uh oh. Two Monkeys were sick and couldn’t make it to rehearsal. Aw….darn. Luke told the rest of us to please stay healthy and get rest. We did more adapting, but made sure to leave parts for the sick Monkeys. We not only learned a new song that Philip and Carly wrote about a man in love with a grill which was tasty, but we also choreographed it! FUN!
For next rehearsal: We’re going to learn the closer and maybe another song! Stay tuned!
Posted by Donnell on April 5, 2009
School Shows
Hey, Campers! This past Friday, April 3, 2009, marked the first school show at the Alfred D. Kohn School on Chicago’s South Side! Sorry this is first you’re hearing about it, but magic often takes time to reveal itself. The Monkeys pulled together a great show for the two eager 4th grade classes, with gems like Breanna J.‘s Moving into the Hotel and the dialogue Super Wolf & Super Dog by D’ Marris S. There were also two great songs written by Laura and Jason that are sure to soon be Monkey classics! I can’t wait to see some of these stories in Celebration 2009! Yay! Nice job, Kohn Kids!
Posted by Tim Soszko on March 22, 2009
School Shows
The latest Dewey news!
Laura, Philip and Kurt all wrote amazing songs that will change your life. Dixie and Brandon are tap dancing masters. And this show is now dominated by stories about farts. I know, I can’t wait to see it either!
If anyone ever says Laura can’t play a pig, Lil Wayne, Biance, Micahel Jackson, or Charro…Come see the show and she’ll prove you wrong!
Huzzah!
tim
Posted by Philip on March 19, 2009
School Shows
We began rehearsal last night for Dewey School, under the direction of the fantastic Molly Brennan, who encouraged us to think about STYLE. We wrote some lesser-used ways to tell a story up on the board, such as Greek Chorus, Vaudeville, Opera, Horror, and many more. It was delightful to see how performers could use tone and style to add to what the author wrote, while still honoring their story and what’s on the page.
A favorite moment: crazy Laura McKenzie and Brandon Cloyd as Lunch Ladies spilling slop (drool) into the food and, unable to remove the slop, throwing it out the window, only to be attacked by kid zombies who were HUNGRY! I hope this story is coming to theatres next Halloween.
Being a new monkey in the group, it’s just so cool to me to see the huge amount of creativity that comes out each adapting. You get to see people’s personalities in how they bring a story to life, and with so much energy bouncing around the room, it is always entertaining.
We also had a lot of acrostic poems in the kids’ journals at this school. I had no clue what the word acrostic meant either. Best to demonstrate with a poem by Tiesha in the 4th grade:
Turtle is slow
Ice is a brick
Elephant is big
Slice of pizza
Hungry as pie
Apple so juicy
TIESHA!
(Aaaaand…we are turning this story into a song – stay tuned)!
-Philip
Posted by Heidi on March 18, 2009
School Shows
A few weeks ago the good folks from CPS Right Now stopped by BOM’s residency at Little Village Academy to learn a little more about what we do in the classroom. They got some great footage of Elizabeth, Ricky, Desiree, Mikala and Mary Winn teaching the awesome Little Village students. They mixed that with interviews with Elizabeth, some of the kids, and Principal Elsa Carmona.
The resulting video is a pretty great glimpse at what we do, and I hope you’ll take a minute (...or 6…) to check it out.
Many thanks to Sarah and the people at CPS Right Now, as well as Ms. Carmona and the amazing 4th Graders at Little Village!
