Young Storytellers Bring Their Tales to Life With a Charity’s Help

Ordinarily, around the holidays, the words “that’s weird, Grandma” might imply a less-than-enthusiastic reception of a gift. For Barrel of Monkeys, a theater ensemble in Chicago, it means quite the opposite: a gift embraced and celebrated.

That’s Weird, Grandma is a show performed by the troupe that is based on 13 years worth of stories submitted by the children the troupe members reach in creative-writing workshops at needy public schools.

Stories like those written by a 12-year-old boy, who crafted a surreal exchange in which a talking hamburger warns President John F. Kennedy—who is stopping for lunch on November 22, 1963—not to travel to Dallas. (The doomed president is touched by its concern but says he must go.)

Not all student works are this wonderfully absurd. Some are painful stories about the deaths of loved ones. What unites them all is “how honest all these stories are. Even when they’re hilarious, it’s coming from a place of complete honesty that only elementary-school kids can have,” says Amanda Farrar, the Barrel of Monkeys’ executive director. “That’s the most amazing part, is bringing that to life.”

The group teaches approximately 900 students per year at a dozen public schools through six-week creative-writing residencies that Ms. Farrar cheerfully calls “controlled chaos.” Children in third through sixth grades write stories that are then adapted by the ensemble into songs and sketches to be performed for classmates and, eventually, the public.

In addition to these workshops, Barrel of Monkeys works with the Chicago Park District to provide an after-school program in which students receive more individualized attention and more opportunities to produce their works and to perform on stage.

The troupe was founded in 1997 by Erica Halverson and Halena Kays, who had performed with Griffin’s Tale, a children’s repertory theater company at Northwestern University that created performances based on stories sent to them by schoolchildren from Chicago suburbs.

Ms. Halverson and Ms. Kays decided to spread the idea throughout the city. Since then, Barrel of Monkeys has reached more than 7,000 students through its writing workshops and performed for more than 18,000 children. Ninety-eight percent of the students in the theater programs are black or Latino.

Barrel of Monkeys had a budget of $321,000 for its last fiscal year. Forty-one percent of its revenue came from grants made by foundations, companies, and government, mostly federal. Another 30 percent of its income is derived from tickets sold for That’s Weird, Grandma. The rest of the money comes from individuals.

Barrel of Monkeys hopes to continue instilling a love of writing in the children it serves and to place their talents at center stage. Ms. Farrar says, “Making them stars is what makes it all worth it.”