PUT ON 'FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA' !!

Join us in finding love for the filthiest Grandma around in this live reality show extravaganza!

Support FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA, After-School Special's first EVER production in NYC! With your GIFTED donation, we can keep Grandma's legs open for another arousing + interactive themed theatre experience! Your support makes it possible for us to expand what was once a series of campy events hosted by Grandma at SUNY Purchase into the "real deal", an Off-Off-Off-Off-Off Broadway show in the Big Apple! Help us make this raunchy reality dating show presented for a live studio audience (YOU!) a reality.


WHO + WHAT IS GRANDMA?

The Grandma events began as a beautiful little wet dream in the minds of some ambitious undergraduate playwriting students at SUNY Purchase. Noticing that there weren't many outlets for student theatre at our college, we created After-School Special (part-theatre collective, part-student advisory board) to get our work and the work of our colleagues out there. We wanted to create an event that would highlight our work in a truly playful way while remaining unpretentious. It was from these ideals that Grandma was born. With our Grandma shows, we aim to create an interactive, absurd and in-your-face wacky theatre experience that can provide a uniquely campy atmosphere, which values the unpredictable and crude aspects of theatre over the highly-structured and inorganic. 

The first event took place in April 2014 and truly excited both the creators/staff of the event as well as the students who were kind enough to grace us with their support and attendance. Since the initial first production, we were all lucky enough to be able to produce three more GRANDMA shows-- each with a more exciting turnout than the last, and arming us with what became absolutely invaluable theatre experience and passion. And so now here we are, post-college, burning with the desire to put up the show that really stole each of our hearts again and again.

The string of GRANDMA shows as produced at SUNY Purchase elicited a very positive campus reaction. A campus news publication, The Purchase Beat , has covered two of our productions with Uh-Oh, Grandma's At It Again (our very first production in April 2014) and Grandma is Back: The PSSAB’s Disorderly Mascot is Here to Stay (our Holiday themed production in March 2015). 

Here are some quotes from our supporters over the years:

 “I’d keep coming back, blind to obligations, willing to give them the shirt off my back if they needed it. Grandma is an emblem of what is most wonderful about this school... Grandma’s home is the sneaky underground club which requires you being ‘in the know’ to locate. Amidst all the contrived scenes of conservatory fluff is this ugly, dirty, complicated little gem, which doesn’t require that you’re cool enough, but rather that you can read a poster and walk over . It represents an ability for students to go beyond the limits of ‘approved’ spaces and events.”      
  - Allison Charde, a collaborator and audience member (2014-2015)

“We try to be as ludicrous as possible. It’s just a fun event. It’s the most fun event, and it’s the best event. Boom, I said it ." - Izzi D'Esposito, former Grandma organizer (2014)

"We really do believe in camp over everything. Grandma events have been really successful…people love Grandma! I think what we’ve ultimately realized is that Grandma needs to be a part of every event in some capacity."  - Dan Rosensweet, former Grandma organizer (2014-2015)

Our advertising and marketing has also played a huge part in gaining GRANDMA the success it has today. We take pride in creative advertising-- mysterious posters, hidden promotional offers, and a hilarious around-the-clock, in-character social media presence best demonstrated through our collaborative twitter account  (which we personally recommend that each and every one of you follow). We don't want Grandma to be a character that only exists while she's on stage- this is a woman you can't escape, griping endlessly about why you never call her anymore (please call her). 

This event allows us and our audience to bond over what is truly fun, whimsical live theatre. We want to make people laugh and express that theatre (in addition to being profoundly inspiring in a serious way) can also be a collaborative effort towards letting loose, being yourself, and most importantly having an unforgettable time. We love working WITH the audience, keeping us and everyone in the space on their toes, and creating what ultimately becomes a completely unique and exciting production- one that leaves all involved with the knowledge that, without each and every participant throughout the night, the show would not have been the same. 

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THE SHOW ITSELF

GRANDMA is truly a force to be reckoned with-- she's loud, raunchy, horny, and DYING. She's the Grandmother of your dreams that you're glad you've never had. She is ageless and timeless, having lived through it all; just bursting with sexually senile tales recollecting every single moment. In this new re-vamped FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA we are truly pullin' all the stops. Our show begins with introducing the NEVER BEFORE SEEN character Dick Cocks, a sleazy cookie-jar collecting talk show host played by Gabriella Sprenkle. Cocks has looked long and hard for the filthiest woman alive until he quite literally stumbled upon her beneath the factory gates of Ritz Crackers collecting salt to combat her moisture. Now Cocks is bringing Grandma on his show for a segment entitled FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA to give her the once in a lifetime opportunity to find true love at last (within a theatre audience) after all her orgasmic squandering.

FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA is Grandma's second (third? fourth? who's keeping count?) attempt at locating her Prince or Princess Charming, but this time around she says she's finally ready to replace her golden showers with golden rings. Inspired by the form of a trashy reality dating TV show (ex: I Love New York, Rock of Love), where chosen contestants fight to win the heart of a celebrity by going through numerous crazy challenges. We have recreated this structure using YOU (our audience) as competitors for Grandma's love. Think you've got what it takes to make our Grandma soar without pharmaceuticals? Then you MAY just get lucky and be hand-picked from our audience as one of the five competitors battling for her heart attacked heart. 

The only tricky part is... Grandma's many obsessive suitors from the past will be present on the day of the show. Will her grandson, Dylan played by Matthew Danger Lippman, attempt to steal her affection once more, or will someone from our crowd catch Grandma's wandering, cataract-plagued eye?

All this infront of a live and hopefully living band!


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WHAT WE NEED 

Let's cut to the case: FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA is, fortunately, not an extremely expensive production. It was initially designed this way, with its creators being college students without disposable income. However, there are some costs to account for. FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA will be taking place in Brooklyn's own Shea Stadium , which although gratefuly doesn't cost money to rent does take a portion of ticket sales.

Your GIFT will go to the:
- Costuming and make-up needed for the show (Thanks to our own Chloe Hayat whose make-up kit is magical- but expensive)
- Equipment (Projector, Amps, Microphones)
-  Transportation costs for performers
- Props and Set
- Financial compensation for all the actors and musicians involved
- And most importantly, renting costly NYC rehearsal
space

College provided us an incredible opportunity to experiment and produce: free spaces, free costumes, and (for the most part) free props, and we cannot express our thanks enough. Now, in the "real world", these resources cost money! Who would have thought?  Without your help our show will lack the chutzpah that is necessary to keep Grandma on her feet.

100% of your GIFTS will go towards funding this show. We realize we may not receive all of the funding that we are requesting via this page, but (honestly) every single penny helps us make this show better, funnier, and more wacky for our audience. If you're a previous fan of our productions (or a fan of camp in general), you may be thrilled to know more specifically the items that your donation will go towards, so, let us indulge you:



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 50% of all proceeds from the show's Dirty Basket (a special Easter-style basket of sinfully dirty goodies and despicable chatchkis that we give away during each show) will go to The Door , an LGBTQA youth organization whose "mission is to empower young people to reach their potential by providing comprehensive youth development services in a diverse and caring environment". In the wake of this admittedly shaky political time, we want to be able to give back. 
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WHO WE ARE 

The faces behind Grandma have changed throughout the years (and we deeply love and remain connected with every force in Grandma's past). Three out of the four behind this incarnation of GRANDMA are original founders (noted with *). The people behind the dusty curtains this time around are Tori Lassman*, Anna O'Connell*, Chloe Hayat*, and delightedly new to our team Gabriella Sprenkle. That's right-- we're a fully female-identifying group this cycle and we're psyched about it.

Tori Lassman, Anna O'Connell, and Chloe Hayat all studied within the playwriting & screenwriting theatre department at SUNY Purchase and graduated May 2016. They have been theatre collaborators since the collective age of FOURTEEN, producing over twelve collaborative pieces and events, in addition to many outside and individual projects over the years. Those three are just quivering with excitement to welcome Gabriella Sprenkle to the GRANDMA team.

Gabriella Sprenkle is a long time lover of the theatre and has been  performing as both an actress and singer since she was in the 6th grade. Gabriella went to CCNY for Jazz Vocal Performance and minored in Creative Writing. While Tori, Anna, and Chloe have been with Grandma since her Benjamin-Button style infancy, all four of these lovely ladies have solemnly sworn to stick around until way after she kicks the bucket and begins to haunt their every waking moment. AND THEY CAN'T WAIT.


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OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
We realize that money doesn't grow on trees and it sure ain't easy to come by. If you're still interested in helping us out, but cannot donate any money to our campaign at this time, we would still love your support-- and there are plenty of ways to support us! Sharing this campaign in any capacity is extremely helpful, be it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, via e-mail, or even just old-fashioned word-of-mouth. SHARE, SHARE, SHARE! Seriously-- it may not seem like a huge move, but we promise- it is extremely generous and helpful of you even just to post this campaign link on your page. We will be so grateful. 

Following us on our twitter account (feel free to tweet at Grandma any time! She'll reply!) is also helpful to us- and fun for you! You should feel comfortable contacting us via e-mail, too- if you have any questions or would like to get involved either in this show or another in the future! If you have props, decorations, ugly or disgusting old candies, or even just an inspiring dirty story about your own Grandmother, we'd love to hear from you! 

Lastly, we just want to thank you all so much for taking time out of your no-doubt busy days and nights to check out our Gofundme page or any of our content. We are so grateful for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping keep this event AND Grandma going with your generous donated gift! We hope to celebrate with you at FOR THE LOVE OF GRANDMA (coming to you soon)

Kisses,
Love Grandma + The After-School Special Theatre

(LIKE US on our After-School Special Theatre facebook page !)