Posted by Joe on May 22, 2012
Company Members
School Shows
After School Program
Barrel of Monkeys runs an after-school program at the Loyola Park Field House, in Chicago’s north side neighborhood, Rogers Park.
Monday was our special end of the year show that was written and performed by 7-13-Year-Old Students
There were hand puppets, shadow puppets, songs, dances, movement pieces, sound effects, and much much more
Above are shadow puppets from “Object Survival” by Bella
Here’s the rundown on what happened:
The Red Group Presents:The League of Awesome
By: Mateo, Shiloh, Oliver, Joseph, Paris, Gabby, Ines, Marlone, Gabriel, Jacob, Melanie, Eidan, Frank, & Ronin
The Gold Group Presents: Monkeys on the News
By: Zara, Nyah, Jackson, Jayson, Maluboo, Victor, Nia, Greta, Joshua, John, Feyisayo, Stephanie, Michael Angelo, David, Francisco, Kaitlyn, Maya, & Chloe
The Blue Group Presents:
Object Survival by Bella
One Scary Halloween Night: Beginning by Andre & Busayo
Food by Everyone
One Scary Halloween Night: Middle by Anthony, Jeremy, & Kennedy
One Scary Halloween Night: End by Isabella, Khiyran, & Jaerell
Spooky Family Vacation by Lois, Iris, & Jaerell
The Vase and the Children by Isabella, Busayo, & Jeremy
The Sneaky Girl by Busayo
Tacos by Kennedy
The Basketball Game Show by Jeremy
Isabella’s Summer by Isabella
Crazy by Chantrell
The Assassin by Jaerell
Meeting Oliver by Lois
Dance by Iris
Adapted & Performed by: Lois, Bella, Jaerell, Busayo, Kennedy, Jeremy, Isabella, Chantrell, Iris, Tim, Kassi, Alea, Jenny, & Ricky
Directed by Joseph Schupbach
And now a message from Rachel!
Thanks for Another Fantastic Year! Thank you for allowing us to work with your talented children! Their creativity has inspired us throughout the year. We are grateful to the Loyola Park Staff, to our volunteers, and to our Loyola Park parents for making this program possible. We could not do it without your support! We look forward to seeing you in the Fall!
Sincerely,
Rachel Wilson
After-School Program Coordinator
Posted by M.Govier on May 16, 2012
School Shows
People have been asking about our stockpile of creativity. Well, we
have an underground base we store all of the creativity in. Maybe you
have some cans of creativity in the back of your closet, or under your
bed, or hidden inside those blank pages of paper. Well here is a
recipe from the Monkey cookbook.
Recipe for 1000
You will need:
1 bed sheet
5 wooden dowels
2 pillows
1 picture frame
16 oz’s of creativity (more or less to taste)
Place all of these in the hands of Barrel of Monkeys and wait 10
minutes. You will see images appear such as a giant cake, people being
pulled into a video game, and a giant bed to tell you it was all a
dream.
This meal pairs well with chocolate milk.
Good news, we have so many cans of creativity that we are cooking up a storm!
Bon Appetit,
The Monkey Cooks
Posted by Katie Marie on May 7, 2012
School Shows
Ten glorious days ago, Barrel of Monkeys performed our first of two school performances at LEARN Campbell. It. Was. Awesome. Reading, adapting and rehearsing stories for a school show is always so much fun, but as an actor, the most rewarding part of the process is the in-school performance, when you see and hear the kids react to the adaptations of their own and each other’s writing.
Ten glorious student reactions from the show, in no particular order:
1. The roar of the children when Brandon, as the heartbroken father werewolf in Diante and Miles’ “The Serious Day”, howled at a full moon to Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”.
2. The “eeeeeewwww” of the Kindergarteners in response to the prospect of eating fish in Vashanti’s untitled story.
3. The “eeeeeewwww” of all the students in response to a quick stage kiss during the wedding in Bentrell’s “We Got Married”.
4. The collective hubbub when, in an adaptation based on Nakhia’s true story about the time she thought she broke her leg, her mother told her to calm down because if she could move her leg, it wasn’t broken. And a similar reaction to the line “Get your attitude straight” written by Ariejah and Jenay in a dialogue that took place at a zoo. (“Ohhh no she didn’t!”, “Ahhh, she told her!!”, “Oooooo!”).
5. Cheers and dancing along with the cast of “Celebrities” to “The Wobble” (Thanks, Jaali, Aliya, Zuri and Jalen! Our new favorite dance is The Wobble, too!).
6. So much singing to Justin Bieber in Malik’s “Talent Show”!
7. Screams and squeals and giggles when Laura got a pie in the face and Dan got spaghetti in his hair in Kyjuan’s “Weird Party by the Bus Station”.
8. The empathetic “awww” when Dixie let out a sad “Meow” after being berated for not ordering the on sale chicken combo in Lanyah’s story about two cats in NYC.
9. Belly laughs at Dan as a corkscrew-curled Princess and Ryan as a split-personalitied Duchess/Queen’s messenger in Iyonna’s “I Am a Princess”.
10. Hugs! So many hugs! As the cast cleaned up the stage and props after the show, we watched student after student come up to their Monkey teachers to give them a hug and thanks for a wonderful experience. We love you too, LEARN Campbell! Thank YOU!
Posted by Dan R. on March 30, 2012
School Shows
This morning was crazy!
The show at Dewey was at 9:00, so we all met up for breakfast at 6:00; it’s something of a Barrel of Monkeys tradition. It lets us have a little relaxation time together before we do a show and it makes sure that we’re all together before heading to the school, so that loading in and setting up goes more smoothly.
The show was amazing. It was the last day before Spring Break and the classes of Ms. Jones, Ms.McGinley, Ms. Malone and Ms. Brackin were in fine form. They gave us such great material to work with and (we hope) we gave them a great show in return.
Here’s Rani singing about her heartfelt desire to cook Ricky with some catfish. Our teachers often feature in students’ stories, but not always in the way that you might expect.
Here’s Tai in his Rubik’s Cube costume that you can see in the previous blog post. The student’s didn’t know quite what to make of him at first, but who can resist his angular and multi-colored charms?
Finally, a report of the show would not be complete without the description of The Balloon Party. Here, you see the cast in the final moments of our final story. At the climax of the play, balloons were thrown to the audience and they responded in the most appropriate way: they joined in with abandon! It’s what Barrel Of Monkeys is all about: joining in, having fun and going a little bit crazy!
Posted by Dan R. on March 29, 2012
School Shows
This week will see Barrel Of Monkeys return to the Dewey Academy for a school show.
For the past week, 12 actors have be adapting the stories of students of the Dewey Academy. Along the way, we’ve learned that Wizards, Werewolves and Weather are topics of interest to our authors. We’ve learned that the Barrel Of Monkeys teachers who run the workshops are great sources of inspiration. We’ve been introduced to Thunder Boy, Pickle Girl and even the lowly Rubik’s cube.
Out of these amazing stories have sprung a number of original songs, some amazing dance routines and even a few magic tricks. Tomorrow will see us putting the finishing touches and polishing our plays before Friday morning’s performance. From where I’m sitting, we’re looking to be in great shape and everyone’s excited to get to Dewey bright and early for an hour of fun!
See you there!
