Rosie Perez Hosts 'Nuyorican Poets Café' at Town Hall on May 3

The Town Hall, Times Square's landmark concert venue, is pleased to present Nuyorican Poets Café Third Millennium Celebration: Aloud and Alive at 35! on Saturday, May 3 at 8PM. This special evening of spoken word and music hosted by Rosie Perez and Flaco Navaja features more than a dozen poets and musicians in a celebration from the iconic institution and many of its illustrious and luminary alumni. Tickets for the show, priced at $40 & $35 are now on sale at The Town Hall Box Office and through Ticketmaster.

Sure to be a wild and joyous evening featuring many of the leading voices in the poetry & spoken word movement, including:  La Bruja, Sandra María Esteves, Reg E Gaines, Carlos Andrés Gómez, Tato Laviera, Mariposa, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, Nancy Mercado, Kirk Nugent, Willie Perdomo, Ishmael Reed, Ntozake Shange, Quincy Troupe, joined together for this very special evening, accompanied by the infectious Boricua Roots music of Yerba Buena. Come hear their powerful voices, dance to their music, and celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of a world-renowned literary movement!

Started in 1973 in Loisaida (The East Village), Miguel Algarin and Richard August began hosting regular gatherings of young outcast poets of color in their apartment. Soon that space moved to an old bar on East 6th Street and The Nuyorican Poets Café was born. Allen Ginsburg called the Café "the most integrated place on the planet." Several generations of novelists, poets, playwrights, musicians and artists have grown up within the walls of their open room. Poetry, the vital sign of a new culture, needed to be heard live. So Algarin rented an Irish bar, the Sunshine Cafe on East 6th Street, which was christened The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. By 1980, the overflow of audiences led the Cafe to purchase an "in rem" building at 236 East 3rd Street to expand its activities and programs.  And the rest, as they say is Nuyorican Poets Café history.

The event takes place Saturday, May 3 at 8PM. Tickets for The Nuyorican Poets Café Third Millennium Celebration are $40 & $35 and available now through TicketMaster, 212-307-4100, or www.ticketmaster.com, or The Town Hall Box Office between noon and 6 PM (except Sundays) at 123 West 43rd Street, 212-840-2824.  For more information, visit: www.the-townhall-nyc.org