The Legitimate Theater

I saw some of the best and, er, non-best theater ever this week. I'll go from the most recent and work backwards...

On Tuesday night, I went to see the Celebration of Authors by the Barrel of Monkeys Theater & Education Group. It was amazing. In short, BOM is a group of educators and actors that goes into Chicago Public Schools, works with kids (the median grade seems to be 4th) to help them write stories, dialogues, and arguments, and then performs the children's stories with a professional, adult cast. I'm hoping to join their board so I can help raise some money for them, so keep yer eyes peeled for more in this blog about moolah for the monkeys.

The show was fantastic. I'm finding it difficult to describe the performance itself; basically the company performs sketches either based on stuff the kids wrote, or (in the case of dialogues) using the kids' product as a script. For the most part, the stories are funny, and even if they aren't written with Twain's wit the company adapts them into very funny sketches. But I definitely teared up during the opening number, just imaginig what it would be like to be a 4th grader, maybe in a public school that's not so well-regarded, and to come to a big, fancy theater and have a story I wrote about going to the zoo turned into a huge production number, taking over the whole stage with a 30-person cast. Cool.

On Saturday, as part of the Chicago Improv Festival, I went to see JTS Brown. Y'all, I may as well tell you that I have a crush on Jason Sudeikis, who is an actor on Saturday Night Live. It's OK b/c disc0 does too, and because my celebrity crushes are exceedingly mild. Regardless, he is one of the founding members of JTS Brown, an improv team/show/form. Jason Sud. wasn't at the performance, but that really didn't matter. It was the best damn improv show I've ever seen. Best comedic performance I've ever seen in person. It was effing great. The cast worked together SO well that I might have thought they rehearsed together all the time (here's where I'm nerdy: I went to see a forum where part of the team talked about the group, and their form, so I know that they last performed together in Chicago like 10 years ago). And I was reminded how lucky Chicago is to haveTJ Jagodowski around, doing improv all over town so that it's pretty easy to go see his work. Which you should, if you're here, because he's funny, y'all. Funny.

An act I saw on Saturday before JTS Brown's show was, unfortunately, not good. I was excited to see them, because I'd heard great things. I think they were just have a bad night. I guess I don't want to say too much more about it, but I was sad. Of course, as a very measly, beginning improviser, it's at once very comforting and kinda scary that a generally well-regarded and very experienced group of actors can put on such a show. Anyway, if I go back to see this team again, and they are great, I'll talk about that; you'll never know that they were attached to this...unpleasantness.

Friday, also as part of the Chicago Improv Fest, I saw a free performance by the Improvised Shakespeare Company. Honestly, this entry is kinda long and I'm almost tired of saying how funny everyone is and how great they are, but I HAVE TO, because the Improvised Shakespeare Company is funny and great. All of the company members are impressively well-versed in Bard-isms (<-- unlike me) and much of the time I was laughing not only at the situations they created but also just because I was impressed. Actually they created a really disgusting scenario (about phlegm) around which to center the action, but I was so into the performance that I didn't even gag. If that's not a truly ringing endorsement, I defy you to show me one.