I ran some improv storytelling sessions at the Awesome Arts Festival this week – where the kids came up with the ideas, and I illustrated them live! Huge thanks to all the amazing young storytellers who came along and offered up madcap characters, preposterous plot points and epic endings.
Session 1: ‘Luca the Heartbroken Toaster’
Wednesday October 1, 11:15am-12:15pm
In which Rosita, the sea star-girlfriend of Luca the Toaster is kidnapped by the evil Captain Bob, the intergalactic Butter Pirate. Captain Bob is called a Butter Pirate not because he steals butter, but because his body is a chunk of butter. Captain Bob flies off into space in his ship, the Blendar 1, with Rosita in a cage beside him.
Luca takes off after Captain Bob, reaching escape velocity after eating some beans on toast. He is attacked by Donut Duck and PieFace who are flying by in their chocolate chip UFO. Luca fires off a strawberry-topped chicken nugget and turns their cookie ship into crumbs. The dastardly Donut Duck and PieFace are left floating around space in their escape pods.
When Luca finally catches up to the Blender 1, he fires off flaming pieces of toast that are shaped like popular children’s character SpingeBab SquarePonks. The flaming SpingeBab toast causes Captain Bob to melt; he falls into the lower decks of Blendar 1 where he is promptly whizzed into a warm buttery mess. Rosita is flung into space and Luca rescues her with his power cord.
Luca the Toaster, heartbroken no more, flies back to Earth with Rosita safely aboard – just in time to see Blendar 1 explode into a million pieces of glass, toast and teeny tiny blobs of butter. A strange alien called Big Mouth (completely unrelated to a popular video game character) turns up to feast on the remains. THE END!
Session 2: ‘The CHAPSTICK OF MOOD’
Wednesday October 1, 1pm-2pm
In which Doris the Tank Rhino wants to retrieve the mystical artefact known as the Chapstick of Doom Mood, which when rubbed against one’s forehead can make your mood change. There are four settings – happy, sad, ‘full chihuahua’, and ‘full chihuahua + laser eyes’. Doris wants the chapstick so she can prepare for her date with Daisy the Battleship Rhino. But unfortunately, the Chapstick of Mood has already been found by the Dorax – a heavily moustached door holding an axe – and he’s not going to give it up willingly.
Doris comes across as great ravine made by the Dorax – he opened up a door in the sky and a meteorite fell through, creating a massive hole in the ground. The Dorax also applied the Chapstick of Mood to three local creatures – a very dopey (but now very happy) reindeer with unusual circular horns; a very large (but now very sad) owl; and a chihuahua who now has laser eyes. Doris tiptoes across a rickety ladder to get to the other side.
Doris is now blocked by a flaming river of oil – the oil is the tears of a very depressed, very large robot ripped straight from Douglas Adams, and the flames are courtesy of the top hat-wearing and laser-eye-shooting chihuahuas floating in it. Doris can’t get around the river because the way is blocked by an enormous grumpy capybara. In the distance behind the depressed robot is a floating chihuahua-with-laser-eyes temple which the Dorax is using as his base (it’s also where he discovered the Chapstick of Mood).
Doris’ only recourse is to open her mouth and fire a tank shell – an exploding taco shell, to be exact – which picks up a flaming chihuahua on its path across the river. The shell hits the floating chihuahua-laser-eyes temple and detonates, destroying the Dorax’s base and shutting down his depressed robot. The oil tears stop, the flaming river dries up, and Doris rolls her tank body towards the now axe-less Dorax. He surrenders and offers up the Chapstick.
Doris and Daisy finally have their date – and rather than using the Chapstick to make themselves happy, they use it to go full chihuahua and lasers – using their heat vision to roast a chicken for their dinner (with Secret Agent Mole waiting on their table). THE END!
Session 3: ‘Sylvestra StallIonE’s APPLE’
Friday October 3, 11:15am-12:15pm
In which Sylvestra Stallione, the acrobat horse, has to retrieve her enchanted golden apple from the evil snakes at popular fast food chain TPWTA ATL TSLAS (That Place With The Apples And The Lasers That’s Shaped Like a Shoe).
The enchanted apple is the source of Sylvestra’s amazing acrobatic abilities – without the apple she will be very uncoordinated indeed! Luckily she has friends to help her including Pilot Capybara, Stabby-Stabby Abalone, and Smeg the Flying Mini-Fridge.
Sylvestra’s first instinct is to go to TPWTA ATL TSLAS and ask for her apple back. Their local restaurant is shaped like a giant horseshoe; it also has a walk-thru for busy horses (though take note, no galloping is allowed). Sylvestra’s golden apple is being kept in the apple vault, suspended between the two towers of the horseshoe.
Sylvestra asks for her apple, but the snake at the counter refuses. He constricts our heroic horse …
… then flings her out of the store like a spinning top!
Sylvestra is left with no choice but to stage a daring heist. Pilot Capybara steers the flying mini-fridge above the towers of TPWTA ATL TSLAS, with Stabby-Stabby Anemone as backup – while Sylvestra hangs from the power cord by her teeth, ready to drop down to the apple vault below.
But they forgot about the ATL part of TPWTA ATL TSLAS – this place has lasers! And they shoot out red-hot apple-shaped beams of light! And now Sylvestra’s bottom is on fire! So in a risky move too risqué to illustrate, she uses her own No.1s to put out the fire, but loses her grip on the power cord and plummets towards the vault, with Stabby-stabby Anemone along for the ride …
… falling straight through the roof of the vault, and mouth-first onto her missing golden apple – restoring her incredible acrobatic abilities! Time to put them to good use fighting the evil TPWTA ATL TSLAS snake.
THE (abrupt) END!
(we ran out of time with this one – the group had too many good ideas!!).
James Foley 