Contact Slampapi
MARC KELLY SMITH (SO WHAT!)
-- the founder of the Poetry Slam
Marc Kelly Smith is available for booking and has been booked for the following:
SOLO PERFORMANCES -- Performing the classic poems of Sandburg, Frost, Cummings, Baudelaire, Wallace Stevens, T. S. Eliot, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and Edna St. Vicent Millay (just to name a few in his repertoire of over three hundred classic poems) along with original poems and monologues from his book Crowdpleaser and CDs Love & Poltics, By Someone’s Good Grace, It’s About Time, & Quarters in the Juke Box.
SANDBURG TO SMITH -- a musical adaptation of Carl’s Sandburg’s works performed in concert with the Rootabaga Band.
SLAM SPEAK -- Marc’s performance poetry workshops introduce students to the fundamentals of performing poetry professionally and effectively on stage in a public forum. By the end of the workshop, the shyest, most inexperienced student will have the confidence to read or recite poetry on stage to peers and strangers alike. Through writing exercises (some playful, some more introspective) students will begin to understand the close relationship between text and performance, and experience the joy that writing and performing poetry can bring.
FROM THE OLD MAN’S MOTUH – Informal interactive lectures on the birth of slam poetry, its founding principles, and its evolution into a worldwide social/literary movement now used as tool to build audiences, educate students, and create volunteer communities of organizers and activists dedicated to the arts and the free voice of the People.
POETRY & MUSIC -- Performing with a selection of Chicago’s finest musicians Marc interlaces jazz, rock, folk, country, and classical compositions with original and classic poetry to create moving experience of notes and words.
THE UPTOWN POETRY SLAM EXPERIENCE -- an ensemble of poets and musicians re-creating the Green Mill Uptown Slam in your own backyard, a highly innovative and entertaining show mixing improv, music, theater, and poetry into an engaging interactive poetic experience.
Designing and staging custom-made performance poetry events to fit your programming and festival needs without busting a hole in your budget is Marc’s forte. Drop him a line and see what bring to life for you.