POSTPONED, new date TBA
Mason Square Branch – For young women 14 to 19 years old
Saturdays, October 30 and November 6 | 1-3 pm
Brightwood Branch – For women 20 years old and up
Tuesday, November 16 and Thursday, November 18 | 6-8 pm
Mason Square Branch – Rehearsal for ALL participants
Saturday, November 20 | 10:30 am – 2:30 pm
Mason Square Branch – Performance for ALL participants for the public
Saturday, December 4 | 1-2:30 pmThe performance will be recorded and uploaded at a later time, TBD.
Join this master class with Springfield’s Poet Laureate, Magdalena Gómez, for an introduction to writing and performing poetry in ways that invite/excite/inspire!
Space is very limited in each of the cohorts with pre-registration required. Fill out the application form here.
PLEASE NOTE: A commitment to attend both sessions as well as participate in one four-hour rehearsal with participants from all three cohorts at the Mason Square Library on Saturday, November 20, and the big group performance on Saturday, December 4 are required.
Out/Spoken Words is for participants at ALL levels in their poetry writing and performance. Master Classes are usually for professionals in a particular field. This is a Master Class for anyone who truly loves poetry and/or spoken word and wants to share that passion with others.
Participants will be provided with tools and encouragement to conjure poems and voice for performance of their original writing. All we ask is your willingness to fully participate, and to bring a poem that matters to you to your first session, whether you wrote it or not. You will be expected to always arrive 15 minutes before start time; complete simple assignments; and commit to your sessions, the rehearsal and performance.
Space is limited – so be certain you want this! Only sign up if you will commit to the entire process, out of your kind consideration for others.
Please wear loose, comfortable clothing and soft soled shoes or sneakers; this class will be physically interactive. Cost is $5 for each participant for materials.
About the presenter:
Magdalena Gómez was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. She studied English and Theater at Lehman College, and Spanish Literature at the University of Sevilla, Spain. She is the author of Shameless Woman (Red Sugarcane Press, 2014) and the co-editor of Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals, Confessions and Catharsis (Skyhorse Publishing, 2012). Her new book of lyrical narrative will be released by Heliotrope Books, NYC, in April 2022.
The recipient of the New England Public Radio Arts and Humanities Award, Gómez served as a member of the COVID-19 Cultural Impact Commission for the State of Massachusetts.
The Poet Laureate of Springfield, Massachusetts from 2019 to 2022, she received an Academy of American Poets Fellowship in 2021, with funds from The Mellon Foundation. Her website is http://www.latinapoet.com/
