BOM Blog

Same great show, new great time!

As we’ve hinted a few times, we’re switching things up a bit and moving the show to Sunday matinees for the next couple months.

Make Mama Nature proud. Come to “That’s Weird, Grandma” on a Sunday at 2pm.

(Your money-saving coupons will still work for Sunday shows. As always there is more information about the show here.)

Today is World Theater Day, and we hope you will take a moment to celebrate in your own way. Chicago is officially honoring World Theater Day for the first time, though it has been an international tradition for years.

Every year a renowned theater artist writes a message for World Theater Day. This year’s is from Augusto Boal, and is included below the jump here and available widely on the internet. Boal is an amazing writer, director, politician and artist. He is probably most famous for developing Theater of the Oppressed, but has written and extensively on the intersection of politics and theater and developed “legislative theater” when serving a term as an elected official in Brazil. He is a survivor of torture and exile and a fascinating figure in the history of modern theater. Also, I wrote my college thesis on his work, so I’m perhaps a little biased. 

At any rate, In honor of World Theater Day, all Chicago area theater patrons, artists and administrators are invited to a free party at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W Division. There is more information about Chicago area World Theater celebrations through the League of Chicago Theaters website. Mayor Daley issued an official Proclamation naming today World Theater Day in Chicago.

Barrel of Monkeys doesn’t have a performance today, but we hope that you will have the chance to celebrate World Theater Day, be it by attend a play or celebration or reading Boal’s statement or merely taking a moment to reflect on the transformational and inspirational power of art.

Read more…

Tai here. Just want to mention a couple things: this week, 2 new stories jump into “That’s Weird, Grandma,” including the return of an old classic (and my personal all-time favorite), “The Tiny Door at the Back of My Closet,” a tale about a friendly monster, brought to new life by Alex and Meredith.

And, this week’s podcast (and last week’s too) is a BRAND NEW story, never before performed EVER! It’s called “The Date Was Messy,” by a group of kids from the Henderson School. It’s about a girl who meets her date, and well, he’s messy. Hijinks may or may not ensue.

Both of these stories are heartwarming and hilarious.* Listen to the podcast (and subscribe on iTunes if you haven’t already), and come see us at TWG. What a way to start your spring.

*Okay, and I’m in both of them.

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

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