The Poetry Society of New York has come up with an idea to make poetry fun and to expand its audience. “The Poetry Brothel” is designed to be an immersive experience allowing for uninhibited creative expression, presenting poets as high courtesans who impart their work in public readings, spontaneous eruptions of poetry and as purveyors of private poetry readings on couches, chaises longues and in private areas.
The Poetry Brothel has been experienced in New York City, Barcelona, Los Angeles and Chicago, and will now make its way to Kingston, to be hosted at Backstage Productions’ BSP Lounge on Saturday, February 2 from 7 to 11 p.m. The cost is $10, and the event is open only to those aged 18 and older.
In addition to poetry readings onstage, there will be opportunities for poets and audience members to interact more personally by going off to private nooks and crannies for private poetry readings at a cost of $3 each. (And organizers hasten to assure that in this brothel, “The goods are poetic, not carnal.”) The idea, they say, is to offer an “intensified experience of poetry reading that is quite memorable.”
Poets scheduled to perform include poet/author Eliz Cunningham, author and local theater luminary Cait Johnson, performance poet Brett Bevell and actress, storyteller and poet Maura McMahon O’Meara, along with Gary Siegel, Francine Glasser, David Budd, Karen Holtslag, Brendan Merritt and Judith Knauss. A variety of musical acts will help create the brothel atmosphere, among them Caprice Rouge, who will entertain with Balkan and klezmer music, and Lorah Yaccarino, Gary Siegel and David Budd with bordello-inspired music complemented by the belly dancing of Lady Ayleeza.
Tickets to Kingston’s first Poetry Brothel are available at www.bsplounge.com.
Poetry Brothel, Saturday, February 2, 7-10 p.m., $10, BSP Lounge, 323 Wall Street, Kingston; (845) 481-5158, www.bsplounge.com.
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