Posted by Bradford on January 12, 2015
School Shows
In case you’re wondering, (and I know you are); what a typical Barrel of Monkeys school show is like….Well, it goes a little something like this…
Wake up in the wee hours of the morning and kick it down to the breakfast spot for some pre-show bonding. That’s right friends, nothing like a fresh cup of coffee and a giant donut to kick off the day!
Head over to the school. Set up our trusty curtains and key board. Check sound levels, rehearse the show, say hello to the kiddos as they walk into the gym; and before you know it… It’s Show Time Yall!!!
And after 6 days of rehearsal, 18 hours of hard work, the show is over in the blink of an eye. And it never gets old. Seeing the kiddos laughing, applauding and celebrating their stories is always a blast. Well done Columbia Explorers fourth graders. Keep putting the pen to pad and always remember….Every idea is a good idea! Yeah!!!
Posted by Rachel C. on May 19, 2014
School Shows
I’ve always been incredibly fond of outer space and cats, so rehearsing for Morton School’s show has been an absolute blast. We’ve got a lot of outer space, and a lot of cats. Other themes we’ve gotten to explore include sharks, birthday parties, body swapping, and houses that look like faces. Watching these amazing stories jump off of a page and morph into beautiful, funny, and inspiring pieces of theatre and music is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I was a volunteer teacher this spring at Morton, and I’ve been blown away by all of the creativity and positive energy radiating from the classroom and the rehearsal room. Molly, our fantastic director, and the rest of the cast have been incredibly welcoming to me during this process, and I can’t wait to share this exciting experience with all the kids on Friday! I was actually so excited about everything that I forgot to take pictures, so here is a picture of outer space to tide you over.
Posted by Dan R on April 10, 2014
School Shows
With all the firsts (and a few seconds) in this show, it’s time to get excited.
It’s the first school show for BOM Teacher, Ashley Bland. She’s been teaching with us for a while now, but this is her first time on stage with us and she’s doing an incredible job! Here she is with fellow Monkey (and BOM teacher at Haines Elementary), David Pintor:
It’s also the first school show that I have done this school year. It’s exciting to be back in the rehearsal room, reading our students’ stories and working with my fellow Monkeys to adapt those stories for the stage. Being away from the process for a while, it’s easy to forget the scope of kids’ imaginations. In this show, alone, we have international villains, clowns, zombies, scary rabbits, aliens, flower-eating monsters to name, but a few. Sharing a room with performers dedicated to bringing students’ stories is a really exciting process. In the space of 6 hours together, we were able to adapt 18 stories; add to those, a handful of songs and we have our show.
This is the second show that company member Jeff Trainor has directed. He’s doing an incredible job and has joined a growing corps of company members who are taking on directing responsibilities for school shows. It’s a tough job. You have 18 hours to convert a stack of stories to an hour long show. When you consider that most pre-written plays take weeks of rehearsals, you can imagine the amount of focus and hard work needed, as a director, to make sure we’re stage ready, come Friday. He’s ably assisted by a committed and energetic cast.
This is company member Lindsey Dorcus rehearsing one of the stories.
This is also the second year that we’ve been at Haines. It’s always great to come back to a school for another year and we’re excited to be returning there, this Friday, to perform the show.
And that brings me to one more first: Friday will be the first time, ever, that this show has been performed. Now that’s something to get excited about.
Posted by Bradford on March 20, 2014
School Shows
Rehearsal for the Dewey show kicked off this week, and man oh man is it going to be a fun show. With a small, yet powerful cast, and director Marika Mashburn at the helm; many a laughs have been had and a great show has developed in the process. I had the privilege of being on the Dewey teaching team, and working with these amazing 3rd, 4th and 5th graders; and as always, it brings a smile to my face to see how their stories come alive on stage. From going back in time to save Halloween, hiring a hard working bear name Nick to join the Monkeys, to dodging piranhas and chain saws to win a bike race against the gods…. the six weeks at the Dewey School of Excellence shows without question, that every idea is indeed a good idea. Check out some of the pics from rehearsal, and stay tuned for more blogs on the Dewey School Show 2014! Yeah!!
Brandon plays an old man allergic to bucket water
Director Marika Mashburn is in the house
Curtis and Nick’s interpretation of “The Long Day”
Posted by Emjoy on March 18, 2014
Education
School Shows
Once upon a Monday early, while we traveled, we thought surely
The students of Poe wrote such awesome characters to explore
While we pondered their inspiration for their stories’ exclamation
As of someone’s jubilation, bubbling out a mental drawer
“They’re just brilliant!” we cried out, “They’ve got creativity galore—
All of this and so much more.”
Ah, distinctly we recall, it was in the chilly spring, not fall
Each story brought its Raven magic upon the stage floor:
Ms. Wilkins, Beyonce, Draco Malfoy, dragons, cheesecakes, zombies now destroyed,
Superheroes, oh what joy—joy for their creative repertoire
“Kids rule the world” echoed loudly and was a theme for sure,
All of this and so much more…
Thank you to the amazing Ravens at Poe Elementary Classical School. It was our first time working with you and we can’t wait to do it again!
