From Monday, February 3 – Sunday, February 16, 2014, Poetic Theater Productions’ presented the 3rd annual festival of new poetic theater to celebrate the work of both emerging and established poet-playwrights. The expanded two-week festival once again featured performances, readings and cabaret evenings highlighting thematic content of war, mental health, identity, love, and politics from a diverse array of social and cultural backgrounds.
6@6 Reading Series:
Monday Feb 3 at 6:30PM, Free Admission
Paradox of the Urban Cliché by Craig muMs Grant
A lyrical love story about two young people whose passion for each other is more than what the hood and their upbringing has to offer. In order to get off the block, the only world they know, they are forced to examine the truth about themselves, but in doing so, they must dive deep into what they are desperately trying to escape.
Tuesday Feb 4 at 6:30PM, Free Admission
Rickys Way by Maurice Decaul
Marine Combat Veteran Ricky Ricardo The Hitman Davis is unable to find his way after returning home from Iraq; he re-ups for another combat tour, his fourth, which he hopes will offer the redemption he seeks.
Wednesday Feb 5 at 6:30PM, Free Admission
Black Sheep by Darian Dauchan
Black Sheep is actor, poet, and writer Darian Dauchan’s 5th solo piece that reimagines the “black experience” through the perspectives of a host of characters from cops, to drag queens, to Afro-punk teenagers as they battle the “community” they supposedly come from while fighting their own isolation in search of an identity that lives outside the box of tribalism. A theatrical exploration on those who despite their skin don’t fit in with their own kin.
Friday Feb 6 at 6:00PM, Free Admission
Paradox of the Urban Clich by Craig muMs Grant
A lyrical love story about two young people whose passion for each other is more than what the hood and their upbringing has to offer. In order to get off the block, the only world they know, they are forced to examine the truth about themselves, but in doing so, they must dive deep into what they are desperately trying to escape.
Monday Feb 10 at 6:30PM, Free Admission
The Apparatus is Damaged by Jaime Martin
A journey into the mind of a brain trauma survivor through recovery, rediscovery, and poetry.
Tuesday Feb 11 at 6:30PM, Free Admission
Ideals at War: Love by Nicole Goodwin and Jenny Pacanowski
A series of monologues dedicated to love before, during and after exposure to war, seen through the narratives of two women whose life-choices have gone against gender-normalcy and the consequences that lay therein.
Wednesday Feb 12 at 6:30PM, Free Admission
Murder the Machine by Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
Three friends work to solve the mystery of a missing girl in a political world that reaches from the recent past into the distant future.
Performance Series:
Thursday Feb 6 at 8PM, $15
Changing Station written by Staceyann Chin
An in-process reading of this new one-woman show, which follows award-winning poet and stage veteran Staceyann Chin (Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway) on her personal journey to motherhood as a single woman, lesbian and activist without stable finances or health insurance but with the burning desire to have a child.
Friday Feb 7 at 8PM, $15
A Sucker Emcee written & performed by Craig muMs Grant
A Sucker Emcee is an autobiographical one-man show, seamlessly integrating hip-hop, storytelling, and slam poetry forms. What does it mean to move the crowd? muMs examines his childhood in the Bronx and its intersection with the emergence of hip-hop as a revolutionary genre. What does it mean to be an emcee?
Sunday Feb 9 at 8PM, $15
One Journey by Yadira De La Riva
One Journey is a womans coming of age U.S./Mexico border story based in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua that uses theater, poetry, music and movement to discuss the complexities of borderland identity by confronting the effects of immigration enforcement today.
Monday Feb 10, Tuesday Feb 11 and Wednesday Feb 12 at 8:30PM, $20
Redbone: A Biomythography by Mahogany L Browne
A multi genre and media experience – The poems from Mahogany L. Browne’s recently completed manuscript REDBONE are brought to life by live composition, lyrics and movement. This live workshop will unearth the helplessness of domestic violence, hopefulness of love and unshakeable foundation of woman.
Generation Now – Postponed to April due to weather
Thursday Feb 13 at 8PM, $15, Students $10
Youth performers from viBe Theater Experience, Girl Be Heard, Generation Why, Earsay Youth Voices & Urban Word NYC perform a collection of coming-of-age stories & perspectives on the world as 2020 approaches.
Friday Feb 14 at 8PM, $15
Love, Redefined
Poetic Theater Productions fourth annual celebration of non-commercial, non-traditional love featuring dozens of artists responding to Shakespearean love scenes and traditional love poems with musical, poetic and theatrical remixes, re-imaginings and riffs. Featuring brand new scenes written by Aziza D. Barnes, Maria Alexandria Beech, Gina Femia, Kelley Nicole Girod, Chisa Hutchinson, Caroline Rothstein and Sita Sarkar.
Saturday Feb 15 at 8PM, $15
GOLIATH by Takeo Rivera
Returning home from a war without purpose, David searches for his remaining humanity while his family and friends try to reconcile this war-torn veteran with their beloved son, brother, husband and friend. Poetic Theater Productions award-winning production, GOLIATH returned to NYC for one night only on the heels of its California tour to Stanford University, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.
Sunday Feb 16 at 6PM, $15
YO MISS! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide by Judith Sloan
Fusing the art of theatre and music YO MISS! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide is an eye- and ear-witness account of one artist navigating and remixing a maze of miscommunications and memories, while breaking down assumptions that divide residents of a city who live in close proximity but come from conflicting worlds. Performed with a live band including Miwi LaLupa, Deep Singh, Adam Hill, Lynn Ligammari, and Chesney Snow. Directed by Bob Berky. YO MISS! is a project of EarSay, developed with Viper Records and Morgan Jenness.
Cabaret Series:
Thursday Feb 6 and 13 at 10PM, $15
Spend a night with all-star queer poets and musicians, sharing their experiences of coming out, finding love, breaking the silence and speaking out! Featuring Joanna Hoffman, Elliott D Smith, queer folk-pop duo Anna/Kate with Jayne Quan, Charan P. Morris, Shira E, Casey Rocheteau, Tim DuWhite, Sam LaRoche, Kit Yan, Sarah Duncan and Nicole Goodwin.
Friday Feb 7 at 10PM, $15
The Mighty Third Rail
The Mighty Third Rail is an award winning New York based trio that mixes the elements of Hip Hop, poetry, beat-boxing, violin, and upright bass. From poetry cafes to colleges to concert halls, whether it’s jamming at the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe or performing at the prestigious Lincoln Center , The Mighty Third Rail undoubtedly delivers. Featuring the dashing Darian Dauchan on vocals, the indelible Ian Baggette on bass, and the courteous Curtis Stewart on violin. This bold, urban collective pushes the boundaries of Jazz and Hip Hop to define the next generation’s voice. They are the winners of the 2012 Musical Theatre Matters award for BEST New Music at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and were 2013 American Music Abroad Finalists for the U.S. State Department.
Saturday Feb 8 and 15 at 10PM, $15
Love and War by Keomi Tarver
Experimenting with the connection between artists, Keomi uses dance and poetry to welcome the vulnerability that love and war brings to the surface to show to opposing extremes can occupy the same space all in one show. This work is meant to ask all the hard questions we keep tucked away due to fear, leaving us exposed and eventually free.
Featuring Keomi Tarver, Jayson Smith, Efeya Sampson, Kristen Smith, Autumn Oftedal, Sharifa Linton, Samantha Garvin, Candace Tabbs, Keith Alexander, Natasha Corbie, Petra Claiborne, Nicolette Fox, Anthony McPherson, Jeanann Verlee, Tiffany Neal, & Kat Magill