Huntington Theatre Company to Facilitate 11th Poetry Out Loud Semi-Final Competitions, 3/5-6

The Huntington Theatre Company celebrates the 11th anniversary of the national Poetry Out Loud competition, having facilitated the competition in Massachusetts since its inception in 2006. This year, seventy-six high school students from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will participate in four regional semi-final competitions March 5 and March 6. Semi-final competitions will be held in Boston, Framingham, Springfield, and on Cape Cod. All upcoming competitions are free and open to the public.

With support from the Huntington Theatre Company, more than 21,000 students from 87 high schools across Massachusetts competed in recent months in classroom and school-wide competitions. A complete list of participating schools can be found at the end of this release.

Each of the students participating in the upcoming semi-final competition recently won his or her individual school's competition. Twenty-four of the semi-finalists will advance to the state final competition on Sunday, March 13 at 9:30am at Boston's Old South Meeting House.

The Huntington facilitates the Massachusetts state-wide competition with support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The program is facilitated nationally by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

Semi-Final Competition Information:

Boston: Saturday, March 5, 9:30am

Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA

527 Tremont Street, Boston 02116

Framingham: Saturday, March 5, 10am

Framingham Temple Association

404 Concord Street, Framingham 01702

Springfield: Sunday, March 6, 10am

Community Music School of Springfield

127 State Street, Springfield 01103

Cape Cod: Sunday, March 6, 1pm

Cultural Center of Cape Cod

307 Old Main Street, South Yarmouth 02664

Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation competition that celebrates the power of the spoken word and a mastery of public speaking skills while cultivating self-confidence and an appreciation of students' literary heritage as they take poetry from the page to the stage. Poetry Out Loud has inspired hundreds of thousands of high school students to discover and appreciate both classic and contemporary poetry.

The Massachusetts Poetry Out Loud winner receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC this coming spring to compete in the national finals.

Semi-Final judges include: Ann Herzog (Dean of Arts, Science & Professional Studies at Springfield College), Justin Hurst (Springfield City Councilor), Cheryl Perreault (Co-Founder of the Women's Arts Forum), and Massachusetts poets Danielle Georges (Boston's Poet Laureate), Anthony Febo, and John Bonanni.

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