[Shanney Jean & Robbie Q, pictured left at the Ecnyclopedia Show - pictured without beards...]As an active member of the Chicago poetry scene, I often find myself at many poetry shows in the city. One of my favorite shows is the Encyclopedia Show, produced by Robby Q Telfer & Shanny Jean Maney. This is a poetry heavy variety show where they pick a different theme for each show, and then assign topics to each performer to develope a performance around.
They welcomed me to perform during thier season finale, Season 2: Volume 10: The Circus. When it was announced that I would be participating in "The Circus" I thought for SURE they were going to assign "bearded lady" to me! In fact, I started developing performance ideas on my way from the show where it was announced! Alas, I was wrong. They assigned Gibsonton, Florida to me. A place famous for being a wintering town for circus people, the only place in the USA with laws allowing you to keep your pet elephant in your front lawn if you want to!
Upon recieving my assignment I started devloping a half song, half poem, that I was only half excited about. A week before the event, a certain bearded comedian, Bryan Bowden (see earlier post about Bryan) left me a facebook message informing me that he had made the suggestion for Gibsonton as a topic because there had been an X-Files episode that took place in that town. So as a former X-Files addict I decided to do some research and proptly streamed the episde on Netflix! By the time I was done with the episode, I realized that Gibsonton was famous for several murders, and I had a new viggor for my topic. I tucked myself away to re-write my performance, except THIS TIME, I was writing a Neo-Noir voice over as "Moj Beard, Private Investigator" (Gibsonton's, bearded lady P.I.). I slaved over developing the monologue for days and then at 10am the morning of the Encyclopedia Show, I recorded my voice over, laid all the appropriate music / sound fx, and found all of the appropriate props/costuming I could pull together - all with exactly 20min to spare before I had to check in for the show!
Click here to listen to the result! I had a brown trench coat, brimmed hat, brief case, fake wiskey, shot glass, suspenders, a prop gun, and files that said things like "Geek Murders" and a newspaper with articles like "Lobster Boy Gets Away With Murder"!
I shared the stage with performers that I adore like, Roger Bonair-Agard and George Decibelle - Needless to say, Encyclopedia Show "The Circus" was nothing less than a freak show!
Do check check out the Encyclopedia Show's official website because their "Anthology Show" is coming up, with highlight performances from the last season as a teaser for the start of season 3 of T.E.S.
Links:
Chicago Public Radio's Preview of the Event
The Encyclopedia Show's official website
Moj Beard / Gibsonton FL Noir Audio
My Official Website
My Production Company
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