Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution, mostly open to improvisation.
Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and word play, such as the performer's live intonation and voice inflection. Spoken word is a "catchall" term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, pianologues, musical readings, and hip hop music, and can include comedy routines and prose monologues. Unlike written poetry, the poetic text takes its quality less from the visual aesthetics on a page, but depends more on phonaesthetics, or the aesthetics of sound.
The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers. Its first production was the musical Hair in 1967. Since Papp, the theatre has been led by JoAnne Akalaitis (1991–1993), and George C. Wolfe (1993–2004), and is currently under Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham.
Beau Sia is an American slam poet.
Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, better known as simply Def Poetry Jam or Def Poetry, is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by established and up-and-coming spoken word poets. Performances also include special appearances by well-known actors and musicians, as well as occasional performances by Mos Def himself. Co-created by Bruce George, Danny Simmons, Deborah Pointer, Stan Lathan, and Russell Simmons, the show is a spin-off of the popular Def Comedy Jam which began airing on HBO in the 1990s. As with Def Comedy, Simmons appears at the end of every episode to thank the audience.
Daniel Hoch is an American actor, writer, director and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing exposure as in 2007's We Own the Night. He is also known for his one man shows.
Staceyann Chin is a spoken-word poet, performing artist and LGBT rights political activist. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Pittsburgh Daily, and has been featured on 60 Minutes. She was also featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where she shared her struggles growing up as a gay person in Jamaica. Chin's first full-length poetry collection was published in 2019.
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a resident summer theater on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Williams College news director Ralph Renzi and drama program chairman David C. Bryant. It was awarded a Tony Award in 2002 and the Massachusetts Cultural Council Commonwealth Award in 2011.
Regie Cabico is a Filipino American poet and spoken word artist. He has been featured on two seasons of Def Poetry Jam on HBO and has been called the Lady Gaga of spoken word. He is an "out and proud" gay man.
Hip-hop theater is a form of theater that presents contemporary stories through the use of one or more of the four elements of hip-hop culture—b-boying, graffiti writing, MCing (rapping), and DJing. Other cultural markers of hip-hop such as spoken word, beatboxing, and hip-hop dance can be included as well although they are not always present. What is most important is the language of the theatrical piece and the plot's relevance to the world. Danny Hoch, the founder of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, further defines it as such: "Hip-hop theatre must fit into the realm of theatrical performance, and it must be by, about and for the hip-hop generation, participants in hip-hop culture, or both."
Universes is a New York-based American ensemble company of multi-disciplined writers and performers who fuse poetry, theater, jazz, hip hop, politics, down home blues and Spanish boleros to create what has been described as moving, challenging and entertaining theatrical works. The group, with four core members, breaks traditional theatrical bounds to create its own brand of theater.
Luka Lesson is an Australian slam poet. He won the Australian Poetry Slam in 2011 and has been described by Charlie Dark as "a young Saul Williams" in reference to his composition and delivery of poetry in providing social commentary.
Daniel Beaty is an American actor, singer, writer, composer and poet. Beaty is known for his blend of music, movement, and words in such original works as Emergence-See and Through The Night.
Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a spoken-word poet, dancer, playwright, and actor who frequently directs stand-alone hip-hop theater plays.
Liza Jessie Peterson is a playwright, actor, activist, and educator. She is known for her one-woman show, The Peculiar Patriot and her appearances in Ava DuVernay's film 13th.
Ina Norris is an American playwright, poet, producer, off Broadway producer, mentor, and educator. She lives in The Bronx, New York. Her first play Nobody Loves a Black Little Girl When She Becomes A Woman, was an examination through the experiences of a Black woman.
Joe Hernandez-Kolski is an American actor, spoken word poet, comedian and hip-hop theater artist. He appeared on the fourth and sixth seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam.
Da Poetry Lounge is the largest weekly open mic performance space for poetry in the US. It is located in Los Angeles at the Greenway Court Theatre.
Dahlak Brathwaite is a hip-hop-rooted performance artist, spoken word poet, actor, musician, and writer. He has toured the United States with his one-man show, Spiritrials, since 2015. He first gained prominence when appearing twice on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. As a CalArts artist-in-residence he has further developed Spiritrials with director Roberta Uno and choreographer Toran Moore to create the project Try/Step/Trip which he has performed at venues such as Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco's CalArts Center for New Performance, and the American Conservatory Theater. Since 2004, Brathwaite has toured over 200 colleges throughout the United States and Europe with the ill-Literacy artists collective and been a featured performer at the Los Angeles Get Down Festival. He has toured nationally and internationally with the hip-hop theater production of Word Becomes Flesh and Scourge, both under the direction of Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Additional collaborations include a track with acclaimed Bay Area rapper George Watsky and performances with Princess Cut. Brathwaite is a presenter through the CalArts initiative ArtChangeUS: Arts in a Changing America and a U.S. State Department International Exchange Fellowship's OneBeat Fellow, through which he has performed for the State Department's hip-hop diplomacy program, Next Level. The role, which placed him on Team Uzbekistan, has taken him to Guatemala, Israel, Nigeria, the Philippines, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic.
Bryonn Bain is a poet, actor, prison activist, scholar, author, hip hop artist and professor of African American Studies and World Arts & Cultures in the School of the Arts and the School of Law at the University of California at Los Angeles.
