Seattle's Literary Cage Match Medicine Ball: PLAYWRIGHTS V. POETS Returns!
By: A.A. Cristi Jun. 07, 2017
Come join us for the literary battle of the millennium June 22-24th at the Erickson Theater, 1524 Harvard Avenue in Seattle. Performances for this unique, annual, barnbuster of a show are three nights only at 8 pm.
Seven playwrights and seven poets write to prompts provided by seven different visual artists. These writings are then produced and staged by directors and actors drawn from Seattle's theater community. At the end of the run, the audience votes on who did it better-- the playwrights or the poets! The winning team of writers each gets a bottle of Two Buck Chuck. The losing team a can of warm Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. The theme this year - Unity. Asked about the theme, head producer and co-curator Daniel Tarker said: "Given how divided we are right now as a country - politically, religiously, ideologically, and socially, we thought it might be a good time to explore the theme of unity. How can we build bridges and pull people together instead of building walls. And Medicine Ball Playwrights v. Poets seems like a perfect vehicle to do this since it is a boundary busting and silo breaking event bringing a community of artists together including poets, playwrights, visual artists, actors, and musicians to collaborate and create new art under one umbrella."Now in its sixth year, Medicine Ball was started by Dan Tarker and Graham Isaac as a concert style reading designed to showcase different writing communities here in Seattle. Now in its fourth edition fully staged, Medicine Ball brings together top notch poets, playwrights, visual artists, directors musicians, and actors to produce and collaborate on all new works. Thanks to a generous grant from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture through their SmART Ventures program, students with a school ID card will be admitted to the event free of charge. In an effort to expose our region's youth to the vibrant arts community of King Country, the producers of Medicine Ball: Playwrights v. Poets are proud to create more access for local youth to engage with our thriving arts community.
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