#jolietjusticeleague

[hainsworthy]

67 The Ball of Justice by Adam Joyce, music by the Kingpinz dir Patrick Wilkes. In the summer of 2000, a late night was produced at Strawdog called Return to the Howard Bowl, and melded the worlds of old school bowling and rap music. In the summer of 2001 the sequel was mounted, The Ball of Justice. I distinctly remember asking when auditions were and being told, “Auditions? You’re already in it. You’re playing Aquaman Electrorock.” And so I did. The play is set in the (now demolished) Rainbo Roller Rink, and is a derby battle between the heroes, The Kingpinz, and their opponents, The Joliet Justice League, hired by The Sinister Dan Stuckey and his minions, the Wizzarats. It opened as a late night and for the first few weeks, Mike Dailey, Kyle Hamman, Stacy Parker and myself would finish doing Our Country’s Good, and then do a rap/hip-hop roller derby. Well they rolled. I got flippers. Because you may not know this about me, but I CANNOT sing. And I CANNOT skate. But apparently, I’m willing to give rapping a shot. I still remember my verse to this day. We also gave dancing a shot. Godbless that poor choreographer. She would lay down a sick routine and say “Try that” and we would be like “How about we do this, and sell it?” Ashley Hugen, spent the first 30-40 minutes of the show, sealed into a closet behind a Mr. T poster, that he would burst out of, and immediately do a standing backflip ON ROLLERSKATES. WHICH HE ONLY MISSED ONCE. AND IMMEDIATELY RE-TRIED AND LANDED IT. When we closed the show, we had to be back the next morning for strike, and I left at probably about 4 AM, and was back at 9 to find the set in a pile in the middle of the floor and two gaping holes in the floor. Two of the crew decided “I would much rather strike drunk than hungover” and began by kicking over two of the half walls that were screwed into the floor, taking the floor with them when they went over. So many stories with this one. #retrospective #2001 #theballofjustice #adamjoyce #dougnagel #thekingpinz #strawdogtheatre #aquamanelectrorock #homeyifyoustilldontknowme #yobustthis #dolemite #jolietjusticeleague (at Chicago, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6a23sEJ_NL/?igshid=gi0eb0e4853e