Youth + poetry + music = Hungry Rat Revue
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Poets appearing in the Hungry Rat Revue’s debut performance gather at the Langdon Street Café in Montpelier. These emerging writers will collaborate with musician Eliza Moore to create performance pieces from their work on Dec. 6. Photo by Peter Nielsen |
Toolbox
By Hannah Van Susteren Arts Correspondent - Published: November 28, 2008
It's not unusual for Montpelier High School students to take the stage. So it should come as no surprise that students, teachers and community mentors are staging a monthly poetry and musical performance at the Langdon Street Café.
The project, called "Hungry Rat Revue," grew from the creative writing course taught by Kerrin McCadden. Nine of her students will read their poetry to the rhythms and sounds of musician Eliza Moore.
"I felt like I had an embarrassment of riches," says McCadden, who listened to her students read their poetry out loud each week. "I wanted to get their work on stage."
McCadden stresses the importance of teaching writing as an art and not just as a mode of communication. Over the years, she has worked with students to bring their work to life.
"There's such an emphasis on writing – learning how to write well," says McCadden. "I want my students to examine how writing extends into the world. Not just in a career, but how it survives as an art."
With this in mind, Hungry Rat took shape. Peter Nielsen, whose daughter Izabel is taking McCadden's course, was looking for a performance project to develop in conjunction with the Langdon Street Café.
"It happened serendipitously," says McCadden, who says she was fortunate to have students who had performance-ready poetry and a venue willing to showcase young artists. "It has come together very organically."
"While we're all really excited, this is all very new to us," says McCadden.
The group plans on performing on the first Saturday of every month, followed by a performance by the musicians featured in the collaboration. In February, for example, Plainfield musician Kris Gruen will accompany the students and a performance by his Brooklyn-based band will follow.
For their debut performance on Saturday, Dec. 6, the students will be accompanied by musician Eliza Moore, a native of North Montpelier now living in Montreal. Over the past few weeks, the students have e-mailed Moore their work with notes on the mood they want to achieve.
Using the Ableton Live, Moog Little Phatty and Boss Loop Station software, Moore creates rhythms and sound clips that will accompany the students on the stage. She will also record herself singing and playing violin.
At a workshop earlier this month, Moore led the students in improv and reading exercises. It gave the students an opportunity to work with Moore one-on-one and explore the layers in their writing.
"I'm creating a tapestry that will work for them," explains Moore, "I would like them to find more space in their poems to enhance the performance quality."
The students continue to work with Moore via e-mail and Gcast, a Web music-sharing site, to create the mood they want to project during their performance. Moore responds to the students' work with individual feedback and assigns them writing exercises to improve their understanding of their poetry.
Becca Starr, a senior at Montpelier High School, says that prospect of performing her poetry has changed the way she thinks about her writing.
"When I write, I have to think about how it's going to taste when I read it" she explains. "A lot of poetry is beautiful on paper but it sounds jumbled when read out loud."
Moore, who grew up playing classical music, says it important for youth to have an outlet for their creativity. She performed at the Langdon Street Café earlier in the year and says she was impressed with the multi-functional and multi-generational space.
"It's pretty imperative to showcase our young artists; to train them and give them a stage," says Meg Hammond, co-owner of the Café.
"I hope that performing here not only prepares them but makes them a little nervous" she adds. "I hope that they're putting themselves out there a little further than they would."
"This is not just about teen anxiety," says Starr, "Poetry exists on so many levels. It's not just about writing, reading or listening it; it's about combining (these actions) and making poetry accessible to people who might not necessarily enjoy it otherwise."
Izabel Nielsen, a junior who will be performing two poems, says that Hungry Rat helps her to improve on her writing and challenges how she thinks about her own work. As a dancer, she has performed many times on stage but as a writer, this is new territory.
"I'm really excited to perform in public," she says. "I want to connect to the community and experience other people reacting to my reading."