Celebrate Spring With PlayMakers Laboratory's THAT'S WEIRD, GRANDMA: House Par-Tay

PlayMakers Laboratory will resume its creative writing residencies with Chicago elementary students through virtual learning!

That means PML's popular online revue That's Weird, Grandma: House Par-Tay will feature new weekly student-written stories along with old favorites, adapted and performed by the company's professional actors, and directed by Artistic Director Brandon Cloyd and other company members.

That's Weird, Grandma: House Par-Tay streams Mondays at 8 pm CST via Patreon from April 5 - June 28, 2021. Tickets ($2 - $4 subscriptions) are currently available at playmakerslab.org.

Now in its 20th year, That's Weird, Grandma features adaptations of stories written during PlayMakers Laboratory's creative writing residencies in Chicago elementary schools. PML's ensemble of professional actors, comedians and musicians bring the young authors' stories to life as raucous sketches, songs and movement pieces, performing first for students in their schools and then for the public. These stories - from hilarious dialogues between unlikely characters to poignant pleas for social change - resonate with adults while celebrating the imaginations of young people.

Since PlayMakers Laboratory's inception in 1997 as Barrel of Monkeys, its teaching artists have served more than 60 Chicago Public Schools. Over 15,000 elementary school students have participated in the PlayMakers programs, which aim to build students' writing skills, improve self-esteem, and instill confidence in their ideas and abilities.

PlayMakers Laboratory is sponsored in part by Wintrust Financial, Allscripts, Inc., Ernst and Young and Punchkick Interactive. It receives generous support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the National Endowment for the Arts; a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; the Chicago Community Trust; Crown Family Philanthropies; Alphawood Foundation of Chicago; the Maurice R. and Meta G. Gross Foundation; Polk Bros Foundation; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; the Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc.; The Saints; The Topfer Family Foundation, and many other generous individuals and foundations.