Barrel of Monkeys' workshop/performance model puts students' ideas first. BOM facilitators conduct weekly creative writing workshops in elementary school classrooms over a six-week period.
All residencies include a hyper-energetic, school-wide performance of funny and warm sketches and songs. Young authors discover the power of their imagination when they see the stories created in their classroom workshops brough to life on stage by professional actors.
Since our inception we have worked in 32 Chicago Public Schools. More than 7,000 lower-income elementary school students with limited literacy skills and few opportunities for creative expression have participated in the BOM programs that build self-esteem and confidence in student ideas and abilities.
I stopped in at the last rehearsal for the AG Bell show and want to share the pretty faces!
Prince Geoff and Princess Mary Winn—I want her hat!
Welcome, Monkey Blog Readers. Lots of news coming up. Pay attention real close, ‘cuz this blog is coming to you from Kurt Chiang, who has only been in the company for about a year and a half, which means he doesn’t have a digital camera yet. So, this entry is going to be flavored a tad differently. You’ll see what I mean in a second. Unless you’ve cheated and you’ve already scrolled yourself down on the digital browser. Let’s get to business…
The upcoming show is for the AG Bell Convention, hosted by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The convention will be in glorious MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.
Ten Monkeys involved in this show. Here are their stories…
You may have remembered the marathon of blood and sweat and talent that was the Celebration of Authors show, that only concluded itself a few weeks ago. Well, about seven of the Monkey participants in that show? they wrote in their diaries the morning after, and those diaries read – Dear Diary, I miss performing stories written by contagiously gifted and wholly inspirational children. And even though I can barely stand up after that monster-of-a-show last night, I think I could do it all over again. At least once. In June. On Friday the 27th.
Those self-indulgent diarists are named Ricky, Brennan, Mary Winn, Emjoy, Geoff, Tea Party, Kurt, and Laura Grey.
An additional two monkeys jet-setted into the rehearsal space from LA, wearing matching outfits. Their names are Luke and Oona.
Whitney Hayes is the remaining tenth. I don’t know what her story is. I can only assume she’s well rested. Which means she’s holding us up like she’s a ROCK.
This show is unique (and awesome) in that all of the stories are written by children who are deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, a majority of these children have or will have cochlear implants to help them hear. Child’s Voice, a school in Wood Dale, IL, specializes in educating children with cochlear implants, and we visited them earlier in June. A few things about these kids:
HOLA. COMO ESTAS. BIEN.
There is the old cliche: “Save the best for last.” Unlike my father, who uses the saying for everything ranging from the moment dessert is served at a restaurant or during last inning attempts at victory at White Sox games, I hardly utter it.
This last school show has been arguably the most exciting for me. There is the Monkey Triangle of Talent (Brennan Buhl, Kurt Chiang, and John Dixon) into which you would completely enjoy getting lost, the Meredith-made machine with craftsmanship that would make a Star Wars set jealous, a Spanish horror with a kiss of Dorian Gray featuring Brandon, emergent pop cultural icons in the form of an underwater sea band featuring Rachel Wilson like you’ve never seen her before—with fishtail and fiery ‘tude—and Mike Pryzgoda bringing what you’d expect: musical genius. And over all of it, the towering height (and talent) of Mike Tutaj.
However, it is not just the memories on stage harnessed by all these individuals or the Blues solo I sing penned and directed by Curtis that makes this show so memorable. (Magic minute of Monkey mathematics: Solo + me = Monkey First/Risk.) But rather a handful of minutes and seconds that occurred while discussing how to stage a story. That in itself is nothing unusual, but that this story about a serious penguin was written in Spanish made all the difference. (There happens to be a large Mexican-American student population at Orchard Place School.)
We sat and talked. We sat and talked about how to best stage this story. We discussed how to keep the language and native tongue of the student and make it accessible for those that might not know Spanish in the audience with compromising the original voice and language. We figured it out.
Immediately, I thought about my grandmother who didn’t leave her backyard cucumber garden for so long with no where to go without speaking English; or my mother and many other children of Mexican-American immigrants whose parents never spoke Spanish to them because they felt it might hinder them; or kids like me, who were teased about how they pronounced the “funny” food items in their lunchbox, pronunciation of several words or for that “gibberish” they were speaking on Report Card pick up day. Those were the times when “two was—not—better than one.”
But Sunday, May 25, 2008, was not those times. It was a time when speaking Spanish in class and out loud wasn’t just finally accepted--It was important. Worthy of our time, words, and a place. I joined BOM because of its mission and vision to celebrate “the voice of every child,” and I felt so lucky to be touched during this rehearsal to see the consideration by a group of passionate people placed on cherishing and facilitating this particular voice.
In a time where there is much debate about the legitimacy of immigrants in this country, particularly Mexican-Americans, and their successive generations still encounter at times a hostile climate, I have to say to Barrel of Monkeys for myself and any young person who has ever felt a little insecure to say “taco” too well: Thank you. Or Muchas gracias.
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773-281-0638
312-409-1954
Barrel of Monkeys
2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL 60657
(Psst...we perform elsewhere.)
