Funprov is an improv-based workshop for those with little to no improv experience.

Funprov!
Cornelia Arts Building
1800 w. cornelia
Chicago, IL

Event Dates: March 13, 2010 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Click here for the Event Page

Looking for a new way to have a little fun with your friends, or to make new friends? Youngest Child Productions presents “Funprov!”.

Funprov is just like improv, but without the commitment and pressure of a year-long program at one of the major training centers in Chicago.

Taught by the brilliantly talented Amanda Rountree, Chicago performer, director and writer, Funprov is a three-hour workshop geared towards those with little-to-no improv experience. Under Amanda’s direction, the group will participate in fun games and exercises intended to break the ice, bring your playful side out, and make public speaking less daunting.

This is a great opportunity for you to have a fun night out with your friends and walk out the door with a renewed sense of creativity, self-confidence and maybe even some new friends.

In your workshop you will learn:
How to trust yourself
How to be spontaneous
How to be more playful and creative in your every day life
and much, much more.

Registration is $30 and can be made through Brown Paper Tickets.
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98850

Delicious light refreshments will be provided during the workshop.  Additionally, partial proceeds from every workshop will benefit a different local Chicago non-profit or charity, so everyone wins!

And in the absence of this ability, dear reader, is where I have found my own personal hell.

I didn’t realize how much I talk.  And I’m not even referring to chats among friends or performing in shows or leading workshops and classes–sure, yeah…I talk a lot then–but I’m referring to all the things I say when I’m alone!  I spend a great deal of time alone.  I live by myself in a cozy little studio and am a homebody whenever I have the chance.  I cannot tell you how many, many times in the past few days that I have had the natural inclination to say something aloud when I’m alone.  It’s anything from little noises and seemingly nonsensical expressions (see previous post) to giving myself a little what-for or pep talk.  Sometimes it’s just singing or the occasional obvious comment on something that just happened.  (e.g., “Now, that is a delicious sandwich!”)  I could go on and on.  (Apparently, I usually do…)  But now, now it’s all just jammed up in there.  I need a neti pot for my thoughts.

This has got me thinking.  Well, that’s all I feel I can do right now–think.  And thinking isn’t processing for me.  Talking about what I’m thinking or talking as I’m thinking or talking after I’ve been thinking–that’s how I process.  I suppose I write, of course–and that helps me process.  But even when I’m writing, I’m talking.  Just while typing this, I’ve had the urge to say some thoughts aloud to feel how they sound before typing ‘em.  Maybe the reason laryngitis feels like torture to me is the sense of detachment.  I’ve become a prisoner in my own head.  Don’t get me wrong.  It’s a great place to visit.  I just don’t want to live there.

It’s when I don’t realize I’m doing it that it gets me in trouble.  See, I’ve grown so accustomed to emitting the little buggers, that I don’t even notice when they come out anymore.  A “buh” or an “uggh” or an “eeeeeeeep” could come out at any moment, really. I don’t have to be lifting something heavy or seeing a mouse. (Eeeek!  Just the thought!)  And it has gotten worse I believe.  For it has been brought to my attention more and more frequently that I just made a unique (read: improper) noise in an unbefitting location.  And I wasn’t even aware of my doing so!  Gah.

Ahem.  Now let me make one thing ever so clear.  I don’t think it’s wrong to make little noises.  Ah, no!  To the contrary–I think it is quite a good thing.  They’re so very enjoyable and they make life a little more polka-dotted with fun.  Yee!  It’s my increasing oblivion to my own sound effects that troubles me.  Sigh.  After all, the enjoyment of experiencing them is lost if I don’t…uh, you know, experience them.  Hrm.

Anyhoodlies, I think what I’ll try to do is be a wee more conscious about it.  Just to enjoy ‘em more.  Y’know?  Ahhhh…

Oh.  But that does seem like a lot of work…  Meh.

Well, maybe if I take it just one peep at a time.  Dee-duh-lee…Doot-dee-doo…  (Mmm!  That one was delicious!)

*And the typing out of a fun sound simultaneously satisfies both my devotion to these peculiar utterances and my infatuation with fashioning gratifying spellings of new-ish words!  Wheeee!

Does speaking in front of a large group make you nervous? Do you want to improve your communication skills at parties/gatherings or think faster on your feet to increase productivity at work?

Well, here’s a low-key way to get your feet wet with some very accessible theatre. Improvisation is more than just a great tool for actors, it’s a different way of approaching life.  Through fun games and exercises, students will gain more confidence, more creativity, and more playfulness in their lives through the basic improv skills of listening, reacting, working with others, and trusting oneself.  Not only will it make you more comfortable while thinking on your feet, it’s a delightful way to spend an evening.  No previous theatre experience required!

Led by seasoned Chicago performer, writer, and director, Amanda Rountree (uh, yeah…that’s me), this three-hour workshop is perfect for anyone who is looking to broaden their horizons without having to make a commitment to a full improv program.

Tuition is $40 per student, and registration can be completed at the Brown Paper Tickets page. Space is limited!  Please contact youngestchildproductions@gmail.com.

Wednesday, January 27  7-10pm at the Cornelia Arts Center

One week away from the workshop and we still have some spots left.  Please pass along the info to anyone you think might be interested.  Thanks!

I am very excited to be a part of this show.  So many amazingly talented people have made/are making this show possible.  Inspired by Edward Hopper, conceived by Jen Ellison; written by Mary Jo Bolduc, Jen Ellison, Bob Fisher, Tom Flanigan, Don Hall, Merrie Greenfield, Joe Janes, Cholley Kuhaneck, and Rebecca Langguth; directed by Don Hall; performed by Scott T. Barsotti, Mary Jo Bolduc, Regan Davis, Lauren Fisher, Dennis Frymire, Kevin Gladish, Lori Goss, Merrie Greenfield, Marsha Harman, Joe Janes, Andrew Jordan, Patrick Kelly, Ian Knox, Vinnie Lacey, Erin Orr, Amanda Rountree, and Jacob A. Ware; and a hard-working crew including Rebecca Langguth, Dianna Driscoll, Stephanie Hoerner, Jim Moore, Joe Griffin, Heath Hays, and Mike Durst.

Since we’re on the subject, must I title my year?  I suppose titles make it easier for archival purposes.  Some years slip into ambiguity, while others remain clearly marked for their unique qualities:  The Year I Moved to Seattle, The Break-Up/Japan Year, The Year I Toured Europe for Six Weeks, The Year I Moved to Chicago, The Year of (The Good the Bad and) the Monkey, and so on…  These serve as markers for the cartography of my life.  I can’t always find the arrow that denotes clearly “you are here.”  But at least I can see where I’ve been.

Sometimes, I can even see where I’m going.  The paint on the signpost that read, “The Year I Moved to Chicago” had already dried by the time I got out here.  And the “Gonna Create My One-Woman Show” signs led to successful ventures.  So, perhaps I can start making some signs for 2010 and see which ones I use:  The Year I Toured With Monkeys, The Year I Fell in Love (the Right Way), The Year I Began Doing Yoga on a Daily Basis, etc…

Maybe a good goal in life is to have all of one’s years inspire easy titles because of their momentous events.  But maybe that’s putting too much pressure on myself.  I’m fairly skilled at that.  Which is why I don’t need some blinking cursor doing it for me.

I’m not sure what to title this one yet.  And that’s just fine.

About a year ago, I created some short, cute scenes involving dating and break-ups with a sock monkey playing the other character.  They were entertaining and well-received.  An audience member came up to me after one of my performances and asked if it was part of a bigger project–if I had any intentions of creating an entire show out of the idea.  I didn’t think that would be possible.  I mean, I had thought and dreamed about doing a one-woman show.  But based on talking with sock monkeys?  No way.   It’s a unique idea, but I didn’t think something like that could sustain itself for a whole show.

Months passed and I couldn’t get it out of my head.  I wrote a couple of more scenes and was really liking what I wrote.  After performing some more of these vignettes in front of audiences, I was starting to become convinced that maybe it was possible.  I approached Jen Ellison, a theatre artist who I greatly admire, and asked her if she would be willing to direct me in this weird project.  Thankfully, she accepted and after a summer of rehearsing with her, I had a show!  A show when an actor is on stage talking to sock monkeys–under someone else’s direction–could’ve been disastrous.  But Jen is a master.  She understood my vision for the show from the beginning and fostered the depth it needed to sustain itself.

It’s still amazing to me that I did it–that I wrote a one-woman show and did a whole run in Chicago.  The irony about doing a solo show, is that you can’t do it alone.  I had a fabulous director, a wonderful producer, and a fantastic crew of people who made the show possible each Thursday for seven whole weeks.  And, of course, the show STILL wouldn’t have been possible without an audience each night.

In my show, I say to one of the monkeys, “I can’t do that.  I can’t promote myself.  I don’t know how to market myself–it’s just weird.”  In the scene, I’m referring to online-dating.  But I can easily apply it to being an artist.  I felt weird about sending out the countless emails–practically begging folks to come–not to mention the abundance of facebook invites, messages, and postings I sent out on weekly basis.  But I did it.  And I’m glad I did it.  Because people did come (even when the weather was super crappy).

So, I want to thank everybody.  Thanks of course to Jen, Don, Dominique, Speedy, Jessica, and Sophie for helping make this run possible.  But thank you also to everyone who supported me during the creative process (you know you you are) and to everyone who came out to the show and told people about the show, and came again and brought others!  (Again, you know who you are)!  Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I am proud of the show and will definitely perform it again.  But in this post-run, hazy time, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around booking shows and filling out applications.  For now,  I will just don my comfy pants and have a good rest.

“Rountree is amusingly unafraid…[her] quirky approach has considerable charm and appeal.” ~The Chicago Tribune

“Amanda’s energetic and light performance style is the real anchor of the show…her sense of comedic timing is in full display.”  ~An Angry White Guy in Chicago

The Good, The Bad, and The Monkey
Singlehood, Dating, and the Search for Something Real
Amanda Rountree takes a hilarious–and at times, heartbreaking–look at the cycles of relationships and the myths that we tell ourselves about finding a soul mate…..using sock monkeys.

Written and Performed by Amanda Rountree
Directed by Jen Ellison

Get your tickets at the door–just $10 (cash only)

Chemically Imbalanced Theater
1420 Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL

Thursday at 8pm ~ November 19

Please click here for more info about the show!

I haven’t slept all that well the last few evenings.  This fact, coupled with having a very stuffy nose last night, urged me to take some cold medicine.  It was just some over-the-counter-stuff–you know, the kind that will make one pleasantly drowsy.  I should mention here that with both alcohol and drugs, a little goes a long way with me.  So typically when I take cold-medicine, I forgo the two capsule recommended dosage and just take one.  But last night was different.  I don’t know what brought on the devil-may-care attitude.  Maybe it was my comfy, fuzzy Kermit pants.  Maybe it was the noisy neighbors across the way.  Or perhaps it was just the lateness of the hour.  Whatever it was, it was sufficient enough for me to “go wild” and take the recommended two Alka-Seltzer nighttime cold capsules.

At first, nothing out of the ordinary happened.  I took my turn on a couple of Scrabble games on facebook, spread my quilt upon my bed, and contently settled in for the expected restful night of sleep.  And I did sleep.  For a little bit.  Then, my sleepy train curved around the bend and entered Freaky-ville.  I woke up instantly out of dream sensing that something was wrong.  My legs were upset.  “It must be my blanket,” I thought.  So I sat up and took off the quilt.  While I was sitting up, it occurred to me that the idea of upset legs was silly, so I returned my quilt and laid back down.  But my legs were still perturbed.  I’m not sure how else to describe it.  They wanted to do something–anything–as long as they didn’t have to just lie there.  But my head had other plans.  The top half of me was super drowsy.  But the bottom half?  My bottom half wanted to laugh and jump and pretend to be popcorn on a trampoline.  My legs wanted to be unscrewed from my kill-joy body so that they could do cartwheels in a field of sand, pebbles, or those squishy stress-balls.  My arms wanted to see how far they could stretch between wrist and shoulder.  Across the street?  Around the building?  Up to the sky?  I remember repeating the cycle of “my legs do not like this blanket,” remove blanket, “that was nonsensical,” return blanket, lie back down, “my legs do not like this blanket,”…and so on for a considerable amount of time.  I also remember trying to massage and stretch my legs (and my arms for the times they seemed fairly vexed).  I even got up and walked around.  But my top half was so tired.  Both sides resented each other.

I don’t recall when or how I was able to finally quiet my legs.  But I woke up around 11:00 this morning with my Kermit pants missing, the closet light on, and confusion of how the sun the could rise in the west.  I had an abundant supply of mucous (much more than before) and only a vague recollection of what happened over the course of night.  I went to my medicine cabinet and pulled out the Alka-Seltzer box, covered in warnings and directions to make sure I hadn’t taken too much.  I hadn’t.  “May cause excitability, especially in children” looked back at me.

When I hear the word “excitable,” I think of emotional excitability.  It seems like an innocuous (and subjective) symptom to have.  But physiological excitability is something else all together.  And it’s not nearly as enjoyable.

PS:  Alka-Seltzer, give me back my pants.

“Rountree is amusingly unafraid…[her] quirky approach has considerable charm and appeal.” ~The Chicago Tribune

“Amanda’s energetic and light performance style is the real anchor of the show…her sense of comedic timing is in full display.”  ~An Angry White Guy in Chicago

The Good, The Bad, and The Monkey
Singlehood, Dating, and the Search for Something Real
Amanda Rountree takes a hilarious–and at times, heartbreaking–look at the cycles of relationships and the myths that we tell ourselves about finding a soul mate…..using sock monkeys.

Written and Performed by Amanda Rountree
Directed by Jen Ellison

Get your tickets at the door–just $10 (cash only)

Chemically Imbalanced Theater
1420 Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL

Thursday at 8pm ~ November 19

Please click here for more info about the show!