street theater across michigan

You know how the other day I posted that cute lost robot poster? Well, it turns out that it was the work of the kids at the fantastic little pro-writing non-profit 826 Michigan. For those of you who don’t know, the 826 locations around the country are all themed. I’ve written in the past about their place in San Francisco, which is pirate themed. Well, the one on Liberty Street in Ann Arbor, which opens in about a week, is all about robots. Word is, among other things, they’ll be selling robot toupees! (Robot toupees, I think, is the only thing that could possibly outsell severed unicorn heads this holiday season.)

Here’s their announcement about the grand opening.

Saturday, May 17th is a big day in Ann Arbor. There’s the Book Festival, and the Farmers Market, and you just might see a few other interesting things happening downtown. Namely: robots. Intrigued? We would be too.

Many of you know that at 7pm that night, we’re celebrating the grand opening of our storefront, the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair, where the average consumer can find everything from robot building kits to actual robots to robot tears to nostalgia chips to replacement larynxes to robot air grapes to positronic brains and more. And we are the ONLY place in the world that carries Better Bot’s Robot Repair and Design by Asimov merchandise.



During the day, however, we want to fill the streets of Ann Arbor with robots. We know what you’re saying: How can we help? 


We need hundreds (if we can find that many) of people walking around, hanging out, and going about their days in homemade robot costumes. Need to grocery shop? Do it in a robot costume. Gonna stop at the bank and then hit the Book Festival? Why not do it in a robot costume? Invite your friends, family, coworkers, children, and neighbors to join you. If you’d like to help out, email Amy@826michigan.org. We want people out all day, so we can work with your schedule!

Am I the only one who sees the potential for someone to get shot going into a bank dressed like a robot? Other than that, I think it’s brilliant. Seriously. I love 826 from top to bottom. I took part in something at their old place, on State Street, a while back and I was incredibly impressed. If you’ve got kids between 6 and 18, and they aren’t participating in the 826 writing workshops, I think they should be taken from you by the State. I know that may sound harsh, but that’s what I think…

Speaking of dressing up and acting weird in public, I thought that we were pretty clever a few years ago when we mashed-up two memes – Christmas and zombies – and took to the streets of Ann Arbor. That seems to be old hat now, though. I’ve just been invited to an Amish zombie pajama party in Ferndale.

…OK, I just looked at the fine print and it looks as though they’re asking people to come as zombies, Amish “OR” in pajamas for this thing in Ferndale. So, it’s not as ambitious as I’d hoped. I was actually thinking about going when I thought that I might see other zombies sporting silk pajamas and throat beards.