KNOW A MONKEY

Posted by Alexis on February 11, 2011 at 03:17 PM
Company Members

I got to visit with Monkeys Michael Govier and Curtis Williams during last month’s (awesome) Monkey-O-Kee fundraiser night, and just before they took off for an auspicious adventure!

I have been told that you guys are about to have an adventure. Tell me what it is!
Michael Govier: Curtis and I wrote a musical entitled “The King’s Proposal, or the Marriage of Princess Guido” and it’s going to Seattle to play at Seattle Musical Theater. So it’s a cool place, big venue … and we leave tomorrow.

Amazing – so this is the world premiere of your play out in Seattle? You’re coming back to Chicago right?
Michael: Oh yes, this is just an away game.

When you get out to Seattle, what’s it going to look like for you guys?Michael: Well, the play is already cast - we have a cast of 13 people and then we have set designers, costume designers, and everything is being built as we speak.  The Seattle Musical Theater is a cool theater that’s been around for 33 years, so it’s not a brand new company, but this is the first time they’re doing a world premiere musical.  I’ll be directing it, and Curtis will be musical directing it.

Curtis: I get a couple lines too though.

Michael: He’s actually in the show. The conductor is written into the play.  And another Barrel of Monkeys cast member is coming out there with us, Brennan Buhl— he’s going to be playing one Princess Guido.  And we found an abundance of talent in Seattle.

Can I get a quick synopsis of the play?

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Know a Monkey: Amanda Farrar

Posted by Alexis on December 16, 2010 at 03:28 PM
General Company Members

This month’s installment of the “Know a Monkey” interview series introduces us to the executive director of Barrel of Monkeys, Amanda Farrar!

What does it mean to be the executive director of Barrel of Monkeys?
That means basically I’m doing all of the administrative work – you know, doing grants, working with the board, doing the fundraising and the financial management.

How long have you been the executive director?
A year and a half now.

Okay, so what’s a typical day for you at work?
The typical day is usually run by deadlines - whatever is due that week. I go through grant phases and marketing phases, and once a month we have board meetings. It basically depends on what is on the plate.

Do you ever go into the classrooms?
Yes we have been doing a lot of assessment so I’ve been going in to observe.

What’s it like to observe a classroom?
The first time I went in, it was like no experience I’d ever had. I’ve been in the classroom a lot before, and I taught dance for a long time and there is quite a lot of chaos in a dance classroom - imagine 30 9-year-olds in tap shoes.  But the five Monkeys coming into the classroom and creating their own controlled chaos is really amazing.  Just seeing the kids be quiet and watching the monkeys be insane is really fascinating.  And also seeing the kids buy into it and get crazy themselves, and then the silence that comes over the children when they sit down to do their individual writing and just are really concentrated on it.  The ebb and flow of the energy in the room is really amazing.

Did you like writing when you were a kid?

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Thank you to the Monkeys

Posted by Amanda Farrar on December 15, 2010 at 01:48 PM
General School Workshops Company Members

We thought you would enjoy this note written to the Monkeys from Catlalli R. from Columbia Explorers Academy. 

Happy Holidays!

KNOW A MONKEY: Luke Hatton

Posted by Alexis on July 22, 2010 at 12:52 PM
General Company Members

You are the Artistic Director of Barrel of Monkeys. What does that mean?
Every day it’s something a little bit different. It’s a lot of preparation for shows that are coming up. When we have auditions I’m in charge of the casting and organizing that whole process. It’s got a lot of variation to it, including selecting new stories to put in the show each week, That’s Weird, Grandma.  I tally all the audience votes and figure out what we should take out, which sometimes is a heartbreaking decision, but it has to be done.

How long have you been with BOM?
I was cast in the fall of 2000, at a time when ... the group was pretty small then.  To give you an idea of how much it’s growing, we have 55 active company members, and at the time when I was cast I think they had 14 active company members —I may not have that exactly right—and they cast a big crew that almost doubled their size.

When did you decide to become involved in theater?
Whoa. That’s a loaded one.  Well, this sort of ties into my love of Barrel of Monkeys.  I was sort of a bad kid in grade school until third grade, and then I had a teacher who did creative drama in the classroom, and suddenly I think it was kind of a night and day switch and I turned around and I loved the teacher, and therefore wanted to impress her, and therefore was motivated to do well in school and so ... that’s when I became turned around from a problem kid to a kid who was a good student, I suppose, or a kid who was at least striving.  So anyway, I had this teacher and that’s sort of simultaneously when I got interested in doing drama.

Do you have a memory of a thing you did as a bad kid? A pre-third grade memory.
Oh, a pre-third grade memory. Yeah, in kindergarten we had these life-sized blocks and we built a whole town. We were learning about the mail system, so you had to write letters correctly and write the address of the sender up in the corner, and who you were sending it to in the middle and put the stamp on and all that. And I intentionally did it wrong to see what would happen, and I got put in jail by the kid who was the sheriff, and I didn’t like that so I -

You were testing the system!
I was testing the system.  And then I broke the jail.  Like I broke the jail—I mean physically threw the blocks and broke out.  And that led to a lot of parent conferences and stuff, the kid who was the sheriff was distraught and he was, you know, “Luke’s breaking the jail.”

Did you ride shooting guns down the street?
In my mind, yeah.

 

 

 

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MVP 2009-2010: Donnell Williams

Posted by Tai on June 11, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Celebration of Authors Company Members

Every June, after the Monkeys celebrate the authors, teachers, and schools that we work with, we reconvene at a secret location to celebrate our fellow company members at our annual post-Celebration of Authors party and awards ceremony. Awards are given out recognizing everyone’s outstanding work in our school performances throughout the past year, such as “Best Shady Character,” “Best Creature,” and “Most Heartfelt.” (This year’s stories featured numerous appearances by our nation’s President, so a “Best Obama” award was warranted.)

At the end of the ceremony, the prestigious Tom Malinowski Award for Enthusiasm and Commitment to Monkey Greatness is presented. Our Artistic Director, Luke Hatton, describes it as such: “It is bestowed upon an individual in the company who made extraordinary contributions toward the success of Barrel of Monkeys this year.” Previous recipients of this award include Sarah Goeden, Curtis Williams, Mike Spatafora, Luke Hatton, Tai Palmgren, Jason Sperling, and Rachel Wilson.

Joining their ranks this year is Donnell Williams.

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