Stage a Poetry Slam: Creating Performance Poetry Events-Insider Tips, Backstage Advice, and Lots of Examples

304 Pages·2009·6 MB·English

by  Marc Kelly Smith

Insider Tips,
Creating
Backstage Advice,
Performance
and Lots of Examples
Poetry Events
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 1 2/26/09 1:22:44 PM
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 2 2/26/09 1:22:46 PM
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 3 2/26/09 1:22:47 PM
Copyright © 2009 by Marc Kelly Smith and Joe Kraynak
Cover and internal design © 2009 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Internal photos © Tim Stafford and Dan Sullivan
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of
Sourcebooks, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including
information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without
permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
The authors have made all efforts to contact the copyright holders
for material used in this book, if appropriate. If any omissions
have occurred, we will happily correct such errors in future
printings or editions of this book.
Published by Sourcebooks MediaFusion, an imprint of
Sourcebooks, Inc.
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567–4410
(630) 961–3900
Fax: [phone]
www.sourcebooks.com
Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 4 2/26/09 1:22:47 PM
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Where Is Slam? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
What the Slam Can Do for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
What You Can Do for the Slam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
A Note from the Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Chapter 1: Digging the Roots of Spoken
Word Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Spoken Word Poetry’s Long Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Battling Bards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Coming of Age in the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Who Inspired This Madness? and Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Slam Poetry Goes National . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Slam Poetry Goes Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Slam Poetry Here and Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
If you remember anything, remember… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 2: Soaking in the Spirit of Slam . . . 17
The Big Definition of Slam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Poetry and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Staged Bouts for Audience Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
“The Points Are Not the Point” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Sowing the Seeds of Slam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Striving for the Best of Both Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Relearning the Art of Listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Boo! Hiss! Audience with Attitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 5 2/26/09 1:22:48 PM
Other Strategies Audiences Employ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Who’s the Best and Who Cares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Performance Poet as Audience Servant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
“As Dr . Willie Used to Say” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Behind the Slam Curtain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Breaking Down the Color (and Collar) Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
The Culture of Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
If you remember anything, remember… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 3: Slam Competition—Rules,
Regulations, and Other Formalities . . . . . . . 31
It’s a Game, Stupid! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
A Familiar Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The First Slam Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Who Says Who Wins? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
The Basic Rules of Slam Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Perform Your Own Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Three Minutes Is All We Can Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
No Props, Costumes, Trombones, or Other
Carry-On Luggage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Scoring: 0 to 10 (or Down to Minus Infinity) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Make the Process Fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Signing ’Em Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Picking the Judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Alternative Styles of Judging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Famous Slam Disclaimers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Mean Chicago Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Official Emcee Spiel Used at the National
Poetry Slams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
It’s Your Thing, Do What You Want to Do…To a Point . . . . . 44
Slams Are Open to All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
All Styles, Forms, and Subject Matter Are Welcome . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Prize Is Not the Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 6 2/26/09 1:22:48 PM
The All-Important Audience Should Always
Be in Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
If you remember anything, remember… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 4: Should I Become a
Slammaster? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Do You Have the Itch? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Taking Inventory—Do You Have What It Takes? . . . . . . . . . 52
Are You Doing This for Yourself? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Do You Have a Vision? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Do You Have a Support Network? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Do You Have the Time and Energy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Are You a Show Maker? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Are You as Crazy as the Rest of Us? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Tallying Your Talents and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Been There, Seen That . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Been There, Done That . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Anticipating the Obstacles Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
The Hoity-Toity Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Cash Flow Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Shifting Sands—Unforeseen Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Pettiness and Social Hostility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
If you remember anything, remember… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 5: Sharpening Your Vision . . . . . . . . 67
Finding Form in Your Musings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Look Inside: Identify Your Personal Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Look Around: Discover Your Community’s Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Look Back: At What You’ve Seen & Heard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Sampling the Many Flavors of Slam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The Original Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
The Unseen Slam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Theme Slams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 7 2/26/09 1:22:48 PM
Pong Jam Slam—Music to the Poetic Ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Other Slam Spin-Offs—An Ever-Evolving Art . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Heading for the Nationals—Serious Slammin’… Sort of . . . 77
If you remember anything, remember… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Chapter 6: Plotting Your Show: All Aboard
Slampapi’s Entertainment Express . . . . . . . . 81
The Entertainment Express—Scheduling Departure and
Arrival Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The Main Station Stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Open Mic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Special Acts and Guest Performers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
The Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Adding Some Bulk to Our Bare Bones Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Detailing Your Trip Tick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Lace the Evening with Ceremony and Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Bring It On—Heckles, Jekylls, and Hydes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Jacks in the Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
To Spin or Not to Spin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Fleshing Out Our Sample Slam Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Final Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Pace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Marketing Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Leave ’Em Wanting More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
If you remember anything, remember… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Chapter 7: Scoping Out the
Right Venue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Compose a Venue Wish List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Size Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Think Small—Small Enough to Create a Happening . . . . . . . . 104
Think Bigger…When Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 8 2/26/09 1:22:48 PM
Going Colossal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Ambience Is Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Designed for Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Dripping with Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Supportive Service Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Enthusiastic Clientele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Conducive Background Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Consistency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
A Supportive Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Frame the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
What about the Stage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Checking for Essentials: Necessary Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Location, Location, Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Write All This Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
At the Sound of Ohhmmm, Begin the Search . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Finger Walking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
The Net Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Hit the Pavement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Hook Up with Your Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Judgment Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
What Night’s Right? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The Initial Reconnaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Don’t Jump before You Have To . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Closing the Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Money Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Who Does What? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Hey! I Can’t Find a Venue! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
If you remember anything, remember… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Chapter 8: All the Slam’s a Stage . . . . . . . . 129
Poet-in-a-Box: The Black Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Above the Crowd on the Bandstand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
The Spartan Stage: Cleared Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Stage a Slam_Final_INT.indd 9 2/26/09 1:22:49 PM