From Page to Stage: Performing Poetry and Spoken Word

A practical workshop for writers of all levels seeking to start performing their work aloud.

Details

Spoken language is tens of thousands of years older than written language, meaning the entirety of the literary canon originates from the oral tradition: just humans, telling stories aloud to one another. In this hands-on workshop, we will use several examples of notable spoken word performances to illustrate the different styles of performance and the subjective nature of spoken word.

We will discuss several different types of performance, and the subjective nature of poetry and spoken word. Students will be asked to bring one or two 3-minute pieces of writing (roughly 500 words or 100-200 lines) to work on in class.

What you will learn

• What makes an engaging spoken word poetry performance • The effects of the presence of an audience • How to develop your own poetry performances • Different styles of spoken word performance • Different types of spoken word performance and poetry nights (slams, open mics, headlines, features) • How to find and create opportunities to perform poetry and spoken word

Workshop takeaways

• A reading/watch list of recommended poems • A stronger sense of your own tastes in spoken word poetry • An understanding of the skills required to bring a poem or spoken word piece alive onstage • Knowledge of the spoken word and poetry communities, including how to earn money from spoken word • A fully developed performance perfect for open mics, slams, headlines, and feature performances, improved with detailed peer and tutor feedback