Photo Flash: BOM Presents Their Celebration Of Authors 6/9

Barrel of Monkeys (BOM) announces their eighth annual Celebration of Authors event on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 7-10 p.m., at the Athenaeum, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago IL 60657. This special end-of-the-school-year celebration honoring BOM's student authors and their families includes about 75 minutes of youth-generated scenes (list available on request a week before the event), followed by a post-show party with refreshments. Audience members have the rare opportunity to meet the authors, the teachers and principals from the schools BOM members have worked with in this school year.

This performance consists of all new student-authored, adult-performed stories never before seen on the public stage. The heartwarming and exhilarating evening combines the two communities BOM serves all year - the educational community and the theater community for one special night. Celebration of Authors is a free event, but reservations are required at 312-409-1954 or hthompson@barrelofmonkeys.org

BOM returns to Chicago's Theatre on the Lake on Wednesday through Saturday, July 22-25, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 26 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for "Fun O'clock: A Very Special ‘That's Weird, Grandma'" will be available at 312-742-7994 (starting June 9) - single tickets are $17.50 ($110 for all eight season shows). The theatre and box office are located at 2400 N. Lake Shore Drive (at Fullerton), Chicago, IL, and there a $10 pay lot at the corner of Cannon and Fullerton; also accessible by city bus (Sheridan-151).

Save the date for the Fancy Schmancy 2009 benefit on Friday, October 16, 2009, at the Chicago Cultural Center - details will be announced closer to the event.

The Chicago Wallace Audience Engagement Network has provided a grant for BOM to launch Barrel of Monkeys Radio Theater at BarrelofMonkeys.org/podcast, featuring stories written by kids and performed by adults, provided direct to your MP3 player. Many (though not all) of the podcast stories have never been performed during BOM's stage show, and some podcasts are new takes on old favorites, such as "The Dog Was Dead."

In September 2008, Barrel of Monkeys began its eleventh year of serving at-risk Chicago public school students with writing workshops that lead to professionally-performed theatrical presentations in the show "That's Weird, Grandma." This show has produced over 500 stories and musical numbers since April 2001, when the stage run began.

"That's Weird, Grandma" will continue at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland Ave. in Chicago, every Monday night at 8 p.m., except that BOM will present matinee shows only, Sundays at 2 p.m., for the period April 12-May 31, 2009. Special holiday surprises will be included in the shows on Easter Sunday, April 12; Mother's Day, May 10; and Memorial Day Sunday, May 31. The regular 8 p.m., Monday night run will resume on June 15, 2009.

Barrel of Monkeys is an ensemble of actor-educators whose mission is to create an alternative learning environment in which children share their personal voices and celebrate the power of their imaginations, and have served more than 6,600 children in 35 Chicago public schools. BOM accomplishes this through creative writing workshops and in-school performances of children's stories. BOM also engages the broader community in support of the visions of children through public performance of their work.

The staff includes Heidi Thompson Saunders, Executive Director; Luke Hatton, Artistic Director; Elizabeth Levy, Program Director; Maggie Fullilove-Nugent, Company Manager; Molly Brennan, Artistic Associate; and Sarah Goeden, After-school Program Coordinator. Barrel of Monkeys is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Polk Bros Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, The Mayer & Morris Kaplan Family Foundation, The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, The Alphawood Foundation, Peoples Energy, Maurice and Meta Gross Foundation, The Mardi Gras Fund and Chicago Wallace Audience Engagement Network. This project is partially sponsored by a CityArts Program 2 grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, The Chicago Public Schools, and hundreds of individuals.

Photos by Erich Nerger.