Last week I did a Marty Monologues Show at Bradley University as part of the Olli Original series. If you don’t know about Olli at Bradley, click here and find out all about Olli. They have unique and interesting classes, field trips and shows like this.
You can see the entire winter Olli schedule by clicking here.
The show took place on the Bradley campus at the Robert H. Michel Student Center.
The theatre is perfectly named for tonight’s show, The Marty Theatre! The Theatre was donated by Dr. Ralph and Matlida Wright back in 1989
Let’s go in and take a look.
There’s the stage and as I mentioned in the introduction, this is an Olli Original Production!
Here I am setting my stuff up on stage. There’s the table with my props and candy and my music stand with my notes and the Marty Monologues bag designed by Chelsie Tamms of Lettering Works
I should note here that all the photos are being taken by my friend and story editor for the show, Amber Bohannan.
Sarah Marie Dillard and Brandon Mooberry have just arrived. They’ll be performing the opening and closing songs and they’ll also do the music in between stories when I make vintage candy bowls for three lucky audience members.
Sarah and Brandon are part of the band, Sarah & The Underground and you can check them out at their website here and on facecrack by clicking here.
Here’s the crowd showing up, it’s just about showtime!
Amber not only took the photos, she also opened up the show and introduced Sarah and Brandon.
The opening song was “She Loves You” originally performed by The Beatles.
Sarah and Brandon did a jazzy arrangement of the song and they sounded wonderful as always!
The show is titled, “I Was A Pre-Teen Hippie - Sweet and Savage Memories of Growing Up In The ’60’s.”
The stories I told were my memories of growing up in that tumultuous decade with my brother Jim. Some of the subjects I talk about are my introduction to rock ’n roll music, The Beatles, the hippie culture, art, how society changed, the bedroom I shared with my brother and the Kent State shootings that abruptly ended the ’60’s for me.
The show closes with Sarah doing a beautiful rendition of the song, “Old Friends/Bookends” by Simon and Garfunkel.
After the show, Valerie Vasconez interviewed me for the Bradley Scout and you can read her feature article by clicking right here.
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Thank You!
Thanks to Catherine Lawless who’s a Program Director for Olli. She set the whole show up and it wouldn’t have happened without her. Thank you so much Catherine!
And I also want to thank my friends Amber and Joe Bohannan!
Amber took the photos for this post, she did the opening introductions for the show and she and Joe were the story editors for the show.
They listened to many versions of this show when I was putting it together and helped me with notes and critiques and I want to thank them for that and also for driving me to the show and helping me set everything up and then tear it down.
Big thanks to Amber and Joe!
And I also want to thank everyone who showed up for this show at Bradley University, you can’t have a show without an audience and you were such a great and attentive crowd! Thank you all very much and I hope to see you all at the next Marty Monologues show!
Related Posts: Marty Monologues in: Peoria, Chicago and New York City.