National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation present 2019 NATIONAL FINALS April 30–May 1 Lisner Auditorium The George Washington University Washington, DC POETRY OUT LOUD 2019 NATIONAL FINALS I Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies of the United States. The Poetry Out Loud National Finals are administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the Arts Endowment supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more. The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative partnerships, prizes, and programs. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation develops partnerships and programs that reinforce artists’ capacity to create and present work and advance access to and participation in the arts. The Foundation was created in 1979 and is a private non-profit organization that is closely allied with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. It combines funding from state and federal resources with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to address needs in the arts from a regional, national, and international perspective. The Poetry Out Loud National Finals will also be webcast live at arts.gov. WELCOME to our nation’s capital and the final competition of the 2019 Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation are pleased to join the state arts agencies in making this program available to high school students nationwide. Since the inception of Poetry Out Loud in 2005, more than 3.8 million students and 60,000 teachers from 16,000 schools across the country have participated. Fifty-three students advance to the National Finals—one from every state, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. We congratulate all our state champions on their successes and recognize the courage and hard work that brought them here today. To the family, friends, teachers, and state arts agency staff and partners who have emboldened and supported these students along their journey, we offer an enthusiastic round of applause—thank you. Every audience member, whether with us in person, watching the live webcast, or following us at #POL19, will witness how a poem is transformed when taken off the page and spoken out loud. These students have explored the intricacies of poetry and brought their own experience to the interpretation and delivery. You will hear poems written centuries ago and others newly minted, and you may hear a poem recited more than once—consider what each unique perspective reveals. In the words of U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, “a poem, necessarily, sits at a register that’s different from our usual conversational voices. You have to listen more actively to get to the heart of what’s being said, what you as a reader or listener are being asked to feel or notice.” We invite you to listen closely to these recitations, to enter the minds of others, and be a participant in the art of witness. A warm welcome to all of our guests, and best of luck to our competitors. Mary Anne Carter Henry S. Bienen Acting Chairman President National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Foundation Photo courtesy of NEA Photo courtesy of the Poetry Foundation POETRY OUT LOUD 2019 NATIONAL FINALS 1 April 30 Semifinals Program Hosts and Judges Semifinal One 9:00 am Semifinal One HOST 1:00 pm Semifinal Two Felicia Curry is an actor, singer, and performer in the DC area. She just finished playing Deloris Van Cartier in 5:00 pm Semifinal Three Sister Act at Virginia Music Theater and recently appeared in the world premiere of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Heather McDonald at Signature Theatre. In New York City, she has performed at WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Joe’s Pub (We 3 Lizas) and at the New York Musical Festival Lauren Miller (The Brontës and Petite Rouge). Curry has performed Stephen Young regionally at the Gulfshore Playhouse, Virginia Repertory Theatre, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Hosts Arts, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Round House Felicia Curry Theatre, Rep Stage, Studio Theatre, MetroStage, Imagination Anderson Wells Stage, Adventure Theatre, and Toby’s Dinner Theatre. She Josephine Reed is an artistic associate at Ford’s Theatre and she will be co-hosting the Washington, DC Helen Hayes Awards, for First Round the second time, with award-winning director and actor Rick Hammerly. She has been named one of 12 DC Stage Second Round Dynamos by the Washington Post and in 2018, she received a HH Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for Lela Intermission & Co. at Factory 449 and for Best Ensemble for Ragtime at Ford’s Theatre. Curry is a Factory 449 company member and AWARDS PRESENTATION holds a BA in journalism, with a minor in the performing arts, from the University of Maryland, College Park. ANNOUNCEMENT OF REGIONAL FINALISTS Top eight competitors in each semifinal will recite a third poem JUDGES Dan Brady is the author of the poetry Third Round collections Strange Children (Publishing Genius, 2018) and Subtexts (forthcoming Announcement of National Finalists from Publishing Genius, 2020), as well as two Top three competitors in each semifinal will advance chapbooks, Cabin Fever / Fossil Record (Flying Photo courtesy of Dan Brady to the National Finals Guillotine Press) and Leroy Sequences (Horse Less Press). Brady is the poetry editor of Barrelhouse, a magazine and small press based in Washington, DC. Previously, he served as the editor of American Poets, the journal of the Academy of American Poets, and worked in the Literature Division at 2 POETRY OUT LOUD 2019 NATIONAL FINALS the National Endowment for the Arts, where he received a Distinguished Service Award for his work on the NEA Semifinal Two Big Read. HOST Darrel Alejandro Holnes is a researcher, poet, and playwright from Panama City and Anderson Wells is an actor, singer, and teacher in the the former Canal Zone of Panama. He is the DC area. He has worked with theater education programs recipient of creative writing fellowships from at Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland; Studio Theatre the National Endowment for the Arts, the in Washington, DC; and Treehouse for Creative Kids in Photo courtesy of Darrel Holnes MacDowell Colony, Cave Canem, Bread Loaf Writers’ Ashburn, Virginia. He has performed with many a cappella Conference, and CantoMundo. His poetry appears in groups, including DC’s Vox Pop and the Lobby. Wells holds Poetry magazine, American Poetry Review, Best American a BFA in acting from the University of Maryland, Baltimore Experimental Writing, Callaloo, and elsewhere in print County, and continues to teach and train at Studio Theatre and online. He is the recipient of the C.P. Cavafy Poetry Acting Conservatory. Prize from Poetry International, and he was a finalist for the National Poetry Series. Holnes is an assistant professor of English in creative writing and playwriting at Medgar Evers JUDGES College and he teaches at New York University. Quique Aviles is a poet, performer, and teacher. He has been writing, performing, and Kristen Jackson currently serves as leading community arts projects in Washington, connectivity director for Woolly Mammoth DC for more than 35 years. A graduate of the Theatre Company in Washington, DC. She Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Aviles co- earned her MA from University of Texas- Photo courtesy of Quique Aviles founded the LatiNegro Theater Collective in 1985 and Sol & Austin in performance as public practice and a Soul in 1999. He has written and performed more than ten BA in theater studies and English from Duke University. In Photo courtesy of Kristen Jackson one-man shows dealing with issues of race, identity, and 2016, Jackson was recognized as an exceptionally talented class throughout the U.S., Mexico, and El Salvador. He was early-career leader of color by the Theatre Communications the director of Paso Nuevo, GALA Hispanic Theatre’s award- Group (TCG), the national service organization for winning youth theater program, and is currently a faculty professional theater, and was selected to participate in member with the Theatre Lab. His poetry and commentary TCG’s inaugural Rising Leaders of Color program. have been featured on NPR’s Latino USA and This I Believe, and in several anthologies. Born in Shanghai, poet Lynn Xu earned a BA from the University of California-Berkeley and Chelsea Iorlano is Split This Rock’s director an MFA at Brown University. She is the author of youth programs. At Split This Rock, she of Debts & Lessons, a finalist for the Los Angeles draws on her personal experience as a poet and Photo courtesy of Lynn Xu Times Book Prize, and June, a chapbook. She professional experiences working with youth to has received fellowships from the National Endowment for provide high quality programs to young people the Arts and the Fulbright Foundation.