Pop Up Poetry Troupe
University & Pelissier
The idea of a POP-UP POETRY TROUPE refers to the great tradition of a group of theatrical performers touring throughout the land exhibiting their fare in towns everywhere.
Performances by: Gregory Stasiak, Erik E-tomic Johnson, Kat Moscone, Samantha Badaoa, Avery Elyse, Nathanya Barnett, Benny Alexander.
My idea is to use a poetry trailer that offers a changing location that gives many varieties of spoken word performers the opportunity to share their voices in a public setting. The trailer is a stage in motion and it is open to many themes as opportunities present themselves, which will depend on the material chosen by each individual performer. I am proposing to give them the opportunity to travel around Windsor and offer their spoken performances to many different communities.
The idea of a Pop-Up Poetry Troupe will attract the public within the city in which I live. It gives the poet/performer an opportunity to feel that his or her ideas count for something. It also posits a venue for exhibiting new work in diverse environments. It provides a unique opportunity to the Windsor community and offers many individual performers the opportunity to expand their audience and make contact with people outside of their usual audiences.
Between performances, there will be a VIDEO DISPLAY of poetry shown on a DVD located inside the trailer. This is intended to engage the public's interest between the scheduled performances. A table and chair provides a meeting place for the public to interact with the performers.
My own interest in this project is that it is another opportunity to spread poetry to a larger and more diverse audience. At the same time, I can give reading opportunities to spoken word performers who may otherwise find it difficult to find a sympathetic venue. The small enclosed trailer will be accompanied by four poets who will stop periodically along the Route, open a small stage at the rear of the trailer and from there they will verbally express their works to the residents and visitors that will congregate around the stage area. The stage is put back on the trailer and the troupe proceeds to the next location and repeats the programme.
I intend to present this project during the Open Streets Route festival along University Avenue in September 2018 to engage with the residents and visitors who come out to explore Open Streets Windsor, This venue is most relevant to the project because it makes use of streets that are closed off and the festival brings together a wide diversity of people to listen to and appreciate the talents of Windsor’s poken word community.