Poetry in motion

Students jive, come alive to Verbal Mayhem.

By: Gwen Runkle
   WEST WINDSOR — Words were flying fast and furiously in the theater of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South on Thursday afternoon as the performance poets of Verbal Mayhem wowed a standing-room-only crowd of students and teachers.
   Combining hip-hop rhythms and theatrical rhymes, the four poets — Lindsay Halladay, Toney Jackson, Scott Tarazevits and Kyle Sutton — spoke from the heart on everything from breakups and beauty to school life and social stereotypes.
   Don Gilpin, a language arts teacher and director of the Pirate Players, an educational theater troupe, decided to bring the group to High School South after seeing a performance in December.
   "They blew me away," he said. "I thought it would interest a wide range of our student population and be a great way to expand interest in poetry."
   Ann Breitman, high school language arts supervisor, agreed.
   "With the combination of African-American history month and poetry studies, this is a great way to bring poetry alive for the students," she said. "Instead of just reading texts in class, this is really exciting. We’ve had a tremendously positive response."
   During the two assemblies, students really got into the act. One student even joined the poets’ freestyle rap at the end, earning praise from his peers and the poets.
   "I couldn’t believe how many students were getting into it," said Lindsey Warne, a junior and member of school’s Live Poets Society. "It was so powerful."
   Instead of trying to interpret something dry from a textbook, the Verbal Mayhem performance let students hear, see and feel the meanings behind the words, she said.
   "Our goal is to really bring slam and performance poetry into the schools," Mr. Tarazevits added. "We feel that the youth is our future and that they are the key to bring about positive change.
   "Being young ourselves the students can relate to us, we’re accessible," he continued. "We want students to witness the power of words, rhythm and healthy personal expression."
   Following the assemblies, the Verbal Mayhem poets held a workshop exploring the history of slam poetry with discussion on writing influences and inspirations. The poets also worked one-on-one to help students create their own pieces.
   Slam poetry, according to Mr. Tarazevits, is a form of poetry competition, a "literary boxing match," where judges score a contestant’s work. Slam poetry started in 1985 with just a few people and today there are national teams and competitions, he said.
   Verbal Mayhem originated as an open mic poetry club started by Mr. Tarazevits and Mr. Sutton at Rutgers University.
   "That’s where we met Lindsay and Toney," Mr. Tarazevits said. "We decided to branch out into schools about a year ago."
   Each poet was attracted to performance poetry for different reasons.
   Mr. Tarazevits, who has a double degree in theater arts and journalism from Rutgers College, said his theatrical background provided a natural jump to performance poetry.
   "I’m used to being on stage and playing a character," he said. "But there’s no greater feeling then being yourself up there."
   Dr. Seuss, Shakespeare, Weird Al and Mad Magazine all influence his work.
   Mr. Jackson, who will be receiving a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in May, started writing in high school.
   "My teacher gave us an assignment where we could choose to write an essay or a poem so I thought, hmm, three pages of essay or a one-page poem and chose the poem," he said. "And even though I am a visual artist — I go to school for painting — I’ve always found I could express more with words than paint."
   Ms. Halladay graduated from Rutgers College in 2002 and was recognized at the Tony award-winning Crossroads Theater as a slam poetry finalist during the theater’s Middlesex County Showcase. She found her poetic inspiration after her parents divorced during her final years of high school.
   "I started writing when I was in high school," she said. "But while my parents were getting divorced, I found I couldn’t express myself in sentences. When I got to college, I met these guys and it opened up a whole new world for me."
   Mr. Sutton, who has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Rutgers and co-wrote and starred in the festival-acclaimed short film "Scatterbrain" in 2001, said he was first inspired to write after getting dumped by a girlfriend.
   "I wrote this poem all about the things I’d wished I could have said to her," he said. "That’s what’s great about poetry, you can often say things you’d be afraid to or wouldn’t normally."
   Mr. Gilpin hopes the Verbal Mayhem experience will filter into all the school’s language arts classes and help enhance the educational performances of his Pirate Players group as well as the work of the Live Poets Society and the school’s literary magazine, Echo.
   "I’m hoping this will really branch out," he said. "A trip to New York City to see ‘Def Poetry Jam on Broadway’ is also planned."
   Bringing Verbal Mayhem to High School South was made possible by an $850 grant from the West Windsor-Plainsboro Education Foundation.