Arizona Daily Wildcat Online
sections
Front Page
News
Opinions
· Columnists
· Election 2004
Sports
· Football
Go Wild
· Concert Blog
Police Beat
Datebook
Comics
Crossword
Photo Spreads
Classifieds
The Wildcat
Letter to the Editor
Wildcat Staff
Search
Archives
Job Openings
Advertising Info
Student Media
Arizona Student Media Info
UATV -
Student TV
 
KAMP -
Student Radio
The Desert Yearbook
Daily Wildcat Staff Alumni

Monolog Cabin gives a kick to Tucson comedy


Photo
CLAIRE C. LAURENCE/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Steve Barancik, Sybille Bruun, Margo Taylor and Faitha Lowe-Bailey will be setting up shop at the Hotel Congress later this month with a rendition of off-beat monologues.
By Kylee Dawson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, September 2, 2004
Print this

Take "The Vagina Monologues," get rid of the whole vagina thing, make it a lot funnier and what do you get? Hopefully, it'll be something like a Monolog Cabin show.

Tucson is not on the map for its comedy. When writer Steve Barancik realized that, he founded Monolog Cabin to give locals something to laugh at.

"I think Steve came up with a good idea because people want to laugh," said Charlotte Lowe-Bailey, possibly Monolog Cabin's most outspoken member. Maybe.

"Everybody wants to laugh. I don't think we have a really good improv group in Tucson," she said.

With titles like, "Like I Died and Went To (Mormon Freaking) Heaven," "First Lady of the Second Coming" and "Ménage á Ménage," these monologues would have to be funny. If you don't agree, feel free to demonstrate your appreciation for the show with a few of the rotten tomatoes available. No, not really.

Each monolog is written, critiqued and practiced before it is read aloud on the stage. According to Charlotte, they don't necessarily have to be fictional, but they don't have to be non-fictional either. All of them, however, are written in first person.

"It's a combination of writing and performance," said Steve. "I call it the cross between stand-up and literary reading."

Barancik's pieces include "Rosh-ha-ha-ha-shana," a conflicted piece about Judaism.

Barancik asked that the mystery behind "Virtually Speaking" be maintained, but I suggest that you laugh aloud when you see it performed. Don't just say that it's funny.

Originally from Chicago, Barancik graduated from Duke University with a degree in economics, then moved to Tucson three years later.

"I once bicycled through here and put it in the back of my mind that it's a good place," he said.

After moving to Arizona, he delivered pizzas to make ends meet and taught a writing in media course at the UA.

Apparently his hard work paid off - while in Tucson, Barancik wrote "The Last Seduction," that Linda Fiorentino movie with Bill Pullman and Peter Berg.

Even while struggling to get his feet wet in the Hollywood writers arena, Barancik managed to keep his sense of humor intact and even hosted an open mic night at Laffs Comedy Club three years ago.

When he decided to put a comedy group together, he gave his friend Charlotte Lowe-Bailey a call.

Lowe-Bailey grew up thinking that "share" was a dirty word and has no qualms about speaking her mind in person. I can only imagine the kind of things that will come out of her mouth on stage.

"If you're not funny, you're not funny," she said.

After receiving her degree in poetry at the UA, Lowe-Bailey enrolled in the MFA fiction program, but dropped out. She taught as a government poet for 13 years (which basically means the U.S. government paid her to teach students about poetry). Eventually Lowe-Bailey decided she'd had enough of poetry.

"To not do that anymore is a big relief," she said. "Everybody hates poetry."

Lowe-Bailey thinks audiences will find Monolog Cabin refreshing to the Tucson theater scene.

Since first performing at the Museum of Contemporary Art last December, Monolog Cabin has made Club Congress its home and will be performing there every Saturday in September and November.

Audiences can expose themselves to the madness of Monolog Cabin Saturday at Hotel Congress at 7 p.m. Tickets for this 21 + event are $5.

Should you attend, be sure to check your political correctness at the door.

Also, be sure to check out the White Trash Poetry Reading on Sept. 25, inspired by Lowe-Bailey's annual white trash-themed luau.

"White trash is not about poverty; it's about being trashy," Lowe-Bailey said.

Expect to see trashier monologues, like director Sybille Bruun's "To All The Guys I Ain't Shagged Yet" and Barancik's "Things It Says In Needlepoint On Our Pillows," which he performs with his wife.



Write a Letter to the Editor
articles
Monolog Cabin gives a kick to Tucson comedy
divider
Tucson and Campus Calendar
divider
UA grad serenades museum-goers
divider
'Hero' reborn in U.S.
divider
New 'Darko' cut has more to love
divider
Gibby Haynes and His Problem
divider
Bring in the noise, bring in the folk
divider
CD Reviews: Rilo Kiley, Modulator, Shifty, Young Buck, and Palomar
divider
'Surreal' exhibit opens at CCP
divider
Campus Guide
Search for:
advanced search Archives

CAMPUS NEWS | SPORTS | OPINIONS | GO WILD
CLASSIFIEDS | ARCHIVES | CONTACT US | SEARCH



Webmaster - webmaster@wildcat.arizona.edu
© Copyright 2004 - The Arizona Daily Wildcat - Arizona Student Media