Massachusetts' Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest reaches a record 19,000 students from schools in 78 towns in its sixth year. The Huntington Theatre Company facilitates the Massachusetts segment of the national contest that brings poetry into the classroom in a dynamic way, growing students' speaking skills and self-confidence. The Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Huntington sponsor the Massachusetts contest; the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation sponsor the competition on the national level.
Poetry Out Loud engages high school students in mastering public speaking skills, building self-confidence, and learning about their literary heritage by taking poetry from the page to the stage. In its sixth year of national competition, Poetry Out Loud has inspired hundreds of thousands of high school students to discover and appreciate classic and contemporary poetry. To learn more about the national contest, visit huntingtontheatre.org/pol.
High schools across the state have recently completed classroom and school-wide competitions, the winners of which will compete at one of four regional semi-final rounds held in March. Competitions will occur on:
* Saturday, March 5:
-8:30am at the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage, the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston
-9:30am at Framingham Temple Association, 404 Concord Street, Framingham
* Sunday, March 6:
-1pm at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, 307 Old Main St, South Yarmouth
- 9:30am at Springfield Museums, 21 Edwards Street, Springfield
Judges will choose students from each of these contests to compete at the State Finals on Sunday, March 13 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Boston's Old South Meeting House (310 Washington Street, Boston), site of the historic meeting of colonists that led to the Boston Tea Party and a continued haven of free speech today. All competitions are free and open to the public. The state champion will travel to Washington, D.C. to represent Massachusetts in the National Finals in April.
Judges will include Massachusetts poets, writers, playwrights, and theatre artists including January O'Neil, Regie Gibson, Jamele Adams, Nina La Negra, Lydia R. Diamond, Jarita Davis, Barry Hellman, and Michelle Baxter, as well as Huntington Trustees David Wimberly and Bill McQuillan. At the finals, Ashmont Hill Chamber Music will perform a selection from their NEA sponsored program, "Music, Poetry, and American Identity."
This year's Massachusetts Poetry Out Loud competition includes 78 schools located in the following communities: Abington, Acton, Amherst, Avon, Boston, Brighton, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Canton, Devens, Dorchester, Dover, Dracut, Everett, Fairhaven, Falmouth, Framingham, Great Barrington, Harwich, Haverhill, Hingham, Hudson, Hyannis, Ipswich, Lawrence, Leominster, Lexington, Malden, Marblehead, Mattapoisett, Methuen, Newburyport, Newton, North Eastham, North Easton, Northborough, Norwell, Peabody, Pittsfield, Provincetown, Randolph, Rockland, Roxbury, Salem, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, South Hadley, South Yarmouth, Springfield, Stoneham, Stoughton, Sudbury, Swampscott, Topsfield, Tyngsborough, Waltham, West Roxbury, West Springfield, Westfield, Whitman, Wilbraham, and Worcester.
The NEA awards all state champions $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington to compete in the national championship, and the state champion's school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. Each state's runner-up receives $100, as well as $200 for his or her school library. A total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends at the National Finals will be awarded to the winners. The Huntington will provide all school winners with prizes and all Massachusetts semi-final winners with the Kindle e-reader.
"Each year, more Massachusetts students participate in Poetry Out Loud, a testament to the unique learning experience it offers," says Anita Walker, MCC Executive Director. "At a time when budget pressures are forcing many schools to cut arts programs, we are delighted to partner with the talented educators at the Huntington Theatre Company to bring this great program to more schools."
"The Huntington is proud to lead Massachusetts' support of Poetry Out Loud," says Huntington Theatre Company Artistic Director Peter DuBois. "Its growth over the past five years speaks to its success. Poetry Out Loud provides a forum for the next generation of orators and creative voices to be heard. The Huntington welcomes audiences from across Massachusetts to come and hear these talented students bring great poems to life on stage."
