Write about where you will actually be when the rumor surfaces that you’ve disappeared.
Encyclopedia Show: Somerville for Thursday, December 10, 2015 — S3V3: THE CIRCUS
Encyclopedia Show: Somerville — THE CIRCUS on December 10, 2015! Art by Melissa Newman-Evans.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
The Davis Square Theatre
255 Elm St. in Somerville
7pm doors, 8pm-10pm show
all ages, $10/$7 sliding scale
click for Facebook event
The Boston Poetry Slam and Catherine Martin present the next installment in a slightly educational monthly series!
Our theme for this month’s show will be THE CIRCUS! A wide array of local artists will present new work, having been advised we are neither insured nor have a safety net.
The Encyclopedia Show Somerville is a franchise event, wherein invited artists from a variety of performance disciplines present all-new, original works on sub-topics of a single theme. A recurring cast of hosts and characters welcomes the artists with open arms and minds, while the resident Fact Checker is charged with maintaining the integrity of the Encyclopedic Truth of the show. Presenting all-original guest performances from local artists, plus work from our recurring cast members:
- Rob Crean and Chloé Cunha provide clever banter and funny accents appropriate for CO-HOSTING
- The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library offers MUSICAL SUPPORT
- Wes Hazard dispenses QUESTIONABLE EXPERTISE with panache and aplomb
- and Intern Mathieu Cunha has volunteered to perform a highly dangerous trapeze act.
Live Fact Checking is reluctantly provided by Jack van Sly from the Institute of Human Knowledge and Hygiene. The personal assistant to Mr. van Sly is Jade Sylvan.
This show in our monthly Encylopedia Show: Somerville series takes place at the Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm St. in Somerville. Doors and the theatre bar open for a pre-show welcome party at 7:00. The show begins promptly at 8:00 and finishes at 10:00, including a short intermission. This is an all ages show! Admission is $10, or $7 for students, teachers, or guests in Prohibition-era dress.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 9, 2015: José Olivarez
José Olivarez, Bronx-Illinois poet and Harvard grad.
José Olivarez is the co-author of the book of poems Home Court. He is a graduate of Harvard University, the Program Director at Urban Word NYC, and an editor at Painted Bride Quarterly. A winner of a 2015 Bronx Recognizes Its Own award from the Bronx Council on the Arts, his work has been published or is forthcoming in The BreakBeat Poets, The Acentos Review, Specter Magazine, Union Station Magazine, and Luna Luna Magazine, among other places. His work has also been featured on Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie basketball blog, Chicago Public Radio, and on Mass Poetry’s PoeTry on the T program. He is from Calumet City, Ill., and he lives in the Bronx. You can purchase Home Court from his tumblr page and follow him on social media at @jayohessee.
This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
The End of a Moonlit Era…
Moonlighting icon by Emily Carroll.
While we’re sad to say that Moonlighting, our LGBTQ reading series, has come to a close, last Thursday’s intimate, beer-soaked celebration with some of the reading’s mainstays is helping to dull the pain a little.
We couldn’t be more grateful for the three years of phenomenal queer poets we’ve been able to showcase, or the new voices that have discovered themselves on our little (acoustic? nonexistent?) mic. Those voices continue to be a part of the BPS community in new and growing ways.
We’re sure we’ll see you at the Cantab, at If You Can Feel It, You Can Speak It, at Mad Femme Pride, and at Queeraoke. Thanks for three fabulous years!
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, December 2, 2015
The calendar year is drawing to a close, folks, and you know what that means… Cold nights, old memories, and fresh new shows from your favorite locals! Outgoing Boston Poetry Slam Team member Marshall Gillson featured for us this past week with a really excellent set, showing all his strengths and a few of his influences. The slam was an inspired six-some, coming down to Emerson College coach Bobby Crawford up against Northeastern captain Austin Hendricks. Bobby took the win, the ten bucks, and, yes, the chance to compete in the upcoming Champion of Champions slam on December 30.
Next week: we’re back for a bright December night featuring Breakbeat poet and Harvard grad José Olivarez. We’ll also hold the seventh open poetry slam in the 8×8 series. See you there!
Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series FINALE on December 3, 2015
Moonlighting icon by Emily Carroll.
This reading is the FINAL SHOW in our once-monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about the show.
UPDATE: THE LOCATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS CHANGED. It’ll be right next door! Due to staffing issues, Fazenda can’t welcome us tonight, but no worries: Eugene O’Neill’s pub at 3700 Washington, where we usually carouse after the show, has offered to host us. Come grab a drink and a snack with your friends, round-robin some poems around the table if you like, and toast the end of the show and the continuing stories of all our Moonlighting friends.
After close to three beautiful years of Moonlighting, the series will finish its run with a final show. (Don’t worry: you can still catch many of your favorites at the Wednesday Cantab reading, or at other great spaces like If You Can Feel It, You Can Speak It.) Join us on Thursday, December 3, for one last extended open mic and lovefest. Bring a few poems to share on the mic and say farewell!
This show in our monthly Thursday LGBTQ series takes place at Fazenda Coffee Roasters, 3710 Washington St. in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. An open mic begins at approximately 7:00 p.m. and the headliner follows the open mic. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 2, 2015: Marshall Gillson
Marshall Gillson, nerd/rapper/poet by night and also day. Photo by Christopher Clauss.
Marshall “Gripp” Gillson is a nerd by day and a poet/rapper by day also. He was born in Providence, R.I. and holds both a B.S. and an M.S. in Computer Science. He has been an active slam poet since 2008, representing five different venues in four different states in national competition. As the 2014 Providence Grand Slam champion, he placed 15th in the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam. He is also the founder and editor of the independent literary magazine The Misanthropy and boasts publications in Maps for Teeth, Three Line Poetry, and the depression-themed anthology Light as a Feather, as well as several self-published chapbooks.
As a rapper, he has released five independent LPs, two mixtapes, several compilation albums, and a number of mythical creatures from captivity. In 2011, he officially founded glassEyeballs, an independent record label and publishing company. His fifth solo album, “Ansible”, was released on January 21, 2014. In his spare time, he enjoys arguing, pontificating, and writing biographies in the third person.
This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Happy end of November, poets! We closed out the eleventh month with a rockin’ night at the show, including a bright and brilliant feature from local favorite Chloé Cunha. Chloé took us on a journey of form, idea, and sneezing –but don’t worry, she won’t stop there. You can surely expect her to be back up on the slam stage next week!
Oh, and the slam, of course: workhorse host Tom Slavin got a little assist from guest mathematician Sean Patrick Mulroy as the judges whittled down a packed roster to just two finalists. Emily O’Neill, reading from her new manuscript, took on Cecily Schuler, slam organizer from NYC: strong showings from both brought Cecily the win for their first visit to the Cantab slam stage! That ten-dollar prize should be good for half a cup of coffee once she gets home.
Next week: we’re back with another local, bringing greatest hits, new work, and unreleased B-sides to the stage. Get ready to welcome 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team member Marshall Gillson! We’ll also throw open the gates on the sixth slam in the 8×8 series.
Boston Poetry Slam Online