The Performing Knowledge Project is pleased to announce a new Poetry in Performance venture: Performetry: old poems, new poems, your poems. This two-hour monthly event begins Sunday, April 28, at 3:00 p.m. at BloomBars, 3222 11th St NW, Washington, DC.
Each 2-hour event brings audiences a featured poet, classical poetry performed, an Open Mic for poets and flash fiction artists, and a musician. So far, Performing Knowledge has scheduled the first three events, and if things go according to plans, Performetry will become a regular 4th Sunday of the month event at BloomBars.
According to the Director of The Performing Knowledge Project, Robert Michael Oliver, the idea behind Performetry is to create a venue for different styles of poetry in performance. “Poetry never lives or dies on the page,” says Oliver, who created and performed the one-man poetry in performance piece Embodying Poe. “Poetry’s essence and vitality has always burned brightest in performance. Poe, for example, filled auditoriums when he performed ‘The Raven.’ Believe it or not, Whitman’s free verse is rooted in the public oratory of his day. He heard it when he wrote it; and we have to hear it to experience its force even today.”
Oliver is honored by the fact that three fabulous D.C. poets have agreed to perform their work in Performetry’s first three events. Carloyn Joyner will take the stage on April 28, Abdul Ali on May 26, and then Mary Stone Hanley on June 23.
For the classical poetry section of each event, the 57-year-old Oliver will share sections of his new poetry in performance piece The Whitman Project, as well as his film version of “The Raven.”
The Open Mic and a featured area musician round out each Performetry.
“We’re hoping that the mix of classical and modern, musical and lyric attract a regular audience,” says Oliver. If it does, the Performing Knowledge Project plans on continuing Performetry into the future.
Performing Knowledge is pleased to be working in collaboration with BloomBars, Poets and Writers, Inc., and The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to bring you this exciting new venture. Although BloomBars turns no one away, they do request a suggested donation of $10 at the door. Light food and beverage are provided.
Tags: ali, bloombars, dc, flash fiction, hanley, joyner, Open Mic, Performances, performing knowledge, Poe, poetry-in-performance, poets, washington, whitman