NEVERMORE Poetry Hub Slated for LA's First Haunted Valley Bus Ride

On Saturday, October 29, the NEVERMORE METRO Immersive Arts Festival (NEVERMORE) will be presented at various sites in the San Fernando Valley, with diverse artists celebrating the city of Van Nuys and the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Director Brian Sonia-Wallace mixes the community festival and Halloween ride with rare art forms (from weaving to poetry to virtual reality!) to create something totally new for and by the community.

NEVERMORE's free, all-day Poetry Hub is open to the public at the Van Nuys Civic Center, and features poetry readings curated by Nicelle Davis & the Living Poetry Project, who will present 35 local poets (including Luis J. Rodriguez, LA Poet Laureate, Douglas Kearney, and organizations from Write Bloody Press to Tia Chucha's Bookstore). The hub includes a food truck, community organization giveaways and resources, activities and face-painting for youth, and opportunities for attendees to try their hand at everything from figure drawing to an open mic alongside professional artists. Partner organizations presenting include Melrose Poetry bureau, Las Lunas Locas, Southern California Handweavers' Guild, and USC-VR.

Adventurous audiences who purchase tickets are guided by an Unnamed Narrator to the METRO Orange Line, where a haunting begins. Characters from Poe begin to appear, and a spirit sends them mysterious messages. The journey takes audiences through sites along the Valley and culminates with a haunted experience at the Eclectic Company Theatre, where they rediscover the power of poetry. Partners Imaginese Free Productions and Eclectic Theatre Company will both present work.

Participants are encouraged to arrive in costume and discover the hidden treasures of the East San Fernando Valley, and the guided journey is woven through the ongoing everyday life of the community and bus riders. Sonia-Wallace stated, "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring together so many diverse art forms into a single community event. One of the most exciting aspects of this Festival will be the juxtaposition between the senior hand weavers and the young VR designers, and seeing how these different art forms coexist and speak to each other in these public spaces."

NEVERMORE is a project of Theatre Magnet, a subsidiary of Artist Magnet, founded by site-specific producer David Mack, and RENT Poet, founded by Sonia-Wallace, in partnership with the Eclectic Company Theatre. NEVERMORE is funded in part by a City of LA Artist-in-ResidenCy Grant and the Creative Economic Development Fund (CEDF), with support from the Surdna Foundation, Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA). Additional support comes from the LA Tourism & Convention Board and the Offices of LA Councilmember Nury Martinez and LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.

Check-in and the Festival experience begins at the Van Nuys Courthouse West Civic Center (14400 Erwin St, Van Nuys, 91401). Tickets start at $15 (reduced-priced and free tickets available for those who cannot afford them) - for details visit bit.ly/nevermoremetro.

Photo Credit: Nicelle Davis

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