Insert photo caption or credit here
Ahhh! To be young again. Really, really young again. Say, about five? Yeah! Five was a good age, I’ll take it! Five was naptime and milk and cookies and people reading stories to us that almost always had a happy ending. Well, even though we are adults now and currently reside in the land of bills, deadlines and reality vermin like Speidi, you can still indulge in the good old days with BooTown’s totally amazing, super original and completely hilarious show, Grown-Up Storytime.
What’s BooTown you ask? Why, they are a crafty, enterprising group of mostly U of H grads creating original theatrical events. Their primary focus is to make theatre fun and accessible to a larger demographic. So, basically, BooTown is working hard to create brand new, original stuff just for you! I know, how great is that?
The BooTown artistic team is comprised of: Emily Hynds, Truman Phelps, Lindsay Burleson, Philip Hays, Cathy Davis and Ashley Pauley, just in case you feel compelled to thank them!
BooTown started Storytime for Adults back in 2007 and it has been growing stronger every year. Sometimes they even add kitschy themes such as; ‘first times’, ‘yearbook edition’ or ‘stories from the future’. When artistic team member Emily Hynds was asked what she loves the most about the show, she replied, “I love that we get people out of the house at 10pm on a Tuesday night to watch something that isn’t television or a movie.” Refreshing, isn’t it?
Grown-Up Storytime takes place every month at Rudyards, a tasty little icehouse in the Montrose District with an unaffected, laid-back vibe. The drinks are sweet, strong and cheap, the way God intended. Overall, the show was fantastic and I was blown away at the variety and depth of talent to be found on a random Tuesday night. The show is held upstairs, a sizeable space with its own private bar, which only adds to the cool factor. Sorta like hanging out in the attic or romper room without adult supervision. Spin the bottle, anyone?
The show doesn’t even begin until 10pm but by 9:30 loyal audience members were already set at the assorted table and chairs in front of the stage. By the time the show got rocking the place was packed. August’s Storytime had a theme…’Back to School’ and the show included lots of walking down memory lanes, unrequited loves and reading from old jr. high diaries.
Fun fact: Every month Grown-up Storytime has a different lineup and BooTown opens the show to anyone who cares to submit a story to be read and/or would like to perform a story. You can also do both and the stories don’t even have to be funny. So yeah, a large portion of the performers were trained and had some serious comedy chops, but there were also a number of people who just jumped on stage for the hell of it and had fun, which honestly was the whole point of the evening. Regardless of the skill level of the performers involved, every story was interesting, unique and most importantly, made the audience laugh. No, this was definitely not your old school Reading Rainbow!
The standouts of the night included; Matt Lusk, who did a piece called “Spider Tights” and also took a phone call from his mom in the middle of his set, managing to be both absurd and sweet in the same moment, Emily Hynds’ ongoing saga of “the Karen Chronicles”, the real life ramblings of a girl launching her new career as a prostitute, which was way funnier than it sounds, Paul Salazar, whose parody of Harry Potter, “Perry Trotter”, was a crowd favorite, Brian Nichols, who turned an awful poem into a kickass Johnny Cash song and the unbelievably great Kelly Harkins whose ode to all the girls he had loved before from Kindergarten on, included props ranging from his near mute male assistant to Boones Farm Strawberry Hill. He effortlessly brought the house down with his spot on delivery.
And a special shout out must go to the evenings MC, the affable, quick-witted, Guy, whose smooth patter and lightening fast comebacks were just rough enough around the edges to make it interesting.
Grown-up Storytime is completely creative, no rules, no limits. It’s Houston artists doing what they do best. Its not another rehashed cliché, a remake, a reality show or some pretentious piece of fluffery. This is the real deal, people. Authentic, live, performing arts being created on stage right in front of you for only $5 bucks!
The stats for the September show are as follows: September 15th , 10pm, Rudyards, $5 buck cover. Be there!
If you are interested in submitting a story, the deadline is Tuesday, September 8th. Send your stories or sign up to perform by emailing BooTown at: bootown@gmail.com. You can also learn more about BooTown at Bootown.org or follow them on Twitter.
So on September 15th, take a chance on a group of amazing local performers. Sneak out of the house on a school night. Break your curfew and head on down to Rudyards for Grown-Up Storytime. You’ll be glad you did, because this story, definitely has a happy ending.
Comments