by: Dan Ackerman
Four-square. Dodgeball. Gaga. The way a simple rubber skin pumped full of the same air you breathe for free can turn asphalt into courts, battlefields, pits of mortal social combat. The way simple rules can transform a group of human beings into teams, ranks, heroes, can make dreams realities, catapult the lowest to the very heights of esteem, and make Amanda cry even though she’s in eighth grade. That clear toneless clang of ball against hard surface or outstretched limb. The pure possibility for where it could rebound next. If only you could bottle it, right?
WRONG. What you were really thinking, what we’ve all always really been thinking, is what if you could stage it? What if you could write it out, share it in a google drive amongst old friends, edit it a couple of rounds, rehearse it, add props, maybe a slideshow or two, and enact it onstage? What if you could work in performances by some of Chicago’s hippest stand-ups, improv comedians, musicians, jugglers, acrobats, sword-swallowers, people who can fold their tongues three ways, people who are famous for being famous, spies, and even other sketch-writers? What if you could drink during it?
This is the principle behind Adult Kickball. The joy and the drama, the highs and the lows, the breaks for nectarines and string cheese that a simple ball introduces to a group of people who can take it for the ticket to fantasy that it is. This is what animates the sketch show that has eaten the variety show that has never forgotten what it means to play. So come play with stand-up Nora Coghlan, improv trio Ideal Threesome, the hot musical stylings of Lunar Hotel, and the whole Adult Kickball team putting a full sketch show on around them!
Adult Kickball will kick off at the Crowd on Saturday, September 28, at 10pm. Tickets are $8, and you can either purchase at the door or Venmo @Dan-Ackerman to reserve tickets. Just send $8 per ticket you'd like to book with subject “AK [Name for Reservation]” so we know who to let in. We may not have sword-swallowers at this first show, but if you or someone you know swallows swords, please put them in touch with us.
