'First By The River' Poetry Slam at Bristol Riverside 12/6

First By The River Poetry Slam at Bristol Riverside Theatre, Dec. 6
Call for Participants
Award-winning theatre artist Will Power works with area schools, hosts slam open to all area high school students

Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, PA, (215) 785-0100

Bristol Riverside Theatre will present the first By The River Poetry Slam for area high school students on Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. New York-based award-winning actor, rapper, playwright and educator Will Power will host the slam with music from DJ Reborn.

Admission is FREE and open to the public.

For more information, call (215) 785-6664, email bristolslam@yahoo.com, or visit www.howwewill.org.

Rules:
Slam is open to all area high school students; sign up to compete in advance or at the door. Original poetry only; 3 minutes or less. Winners receive cash prizes of $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place, $250 for third place.

In residency at BRT, Power has been working with students to explore their creativity with workshops focusing on creative writing, movement, and blending basic theatre and storytelling techniques with rhythm to create spoken word pieces. Power is leading workshops at Bristol High School, Truman High School, Burlington City High School, Bristol Borough Junior High School and Marianna Bracetti Charter School as well as the Bristol Township Senior Center.

Winner of numerous poetry slams, spoken word artist Joshua Bennett (originally from New York and a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania) has also been leading workshops to help students prepare for the December 6 slam when they can get up on stage, perform their poetry and compete for cash prizes.

BRT's education series provides opportunities for young people to develop confidence in their written and spoken language skills. The series leads up to BRT's upcoming world premiere of What You Will (February 10 - March 1, 2009) - a new interpretation of Shakespeare's classic comedy Twelfth Night which brings together the worlds of contemporary hip hop and classical theatre.

Through workshops and assemblies, students explore the relationship of hip-hop and spoken word with the plays of William Shakespeare. Activities encourage lively discussion and broaden students' ideas about Shakespeare and American theater and deepen their knowledge and understanding of the play Twelfth Night.

Viewed as a pioneer in the genre of Hip Hop Theatre, Power has created his own style of theatrical communication, fusing original music, rhymed language and dynamic choreography to produce compelling evenings of work. His adaptation of the Greek tragedy Seven Against Thebes, re-titled The Seven, received international attention and had a highly successful Off-Broadway run at the New York Theatre Workshop. Power's skills have been captured on television and film and covered in publications such as The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, VIBE and The Source.

Power will also perform as part of the theatre's Bridges Informance Series, which lays the groundwork for entering into the world of What You Will, on Friday, December 5 at 7:30 p.m.

This program is funded by the Marketing Innovation Program, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the United Way of Bucks County.

 

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