3rd Annual National Youth Poetry Festival & Slam

April 20th – 23rd, 2000

On Friday night, February 11th, 2000 - 19 teenage performance poets entertained a standing room only audience at Cafe Earth in Storrs.  The crowd was there to hear amazing poetry.  The poets were there to compete for 6 positions on the CT National Teen Performance Poetry team and the opportunity to slam with 14 other teen teams in San Francisco in April, 2000.  For more info, Click here.

The night was supposed to end at 9:30.  Instead, 9:30 came and went and everyone stayed.  The teens kept them in their seats with words that painted the room with colors we may not always choose to see.  Their poetry and ideas ranged from radical to surreal, comical to critical.

At the end of the night the scores were tight.  All 19 deserve another round of applause!  The poets and audience alike were very quiet as the names of the 6 teens who will represent Connecticut stepped up to the stage and took a bow:

Talasi Brooks / Hall High School (West Hartford, CT)
Aaron Greenberg / Greater Hartford Academy of Performing Arts
Jon Goff / Weaver High School (Hartford, CT)
Scott Guild / Wethersfield High School
Dan Houston / Lyman Hall High School (Wallingford, CT)
Maria Rocchetti / Stafford Springs High School

  More information?

Elizabeth Thomas at 860.228.2719 / UpWordsPoetry@UpWordsPoetry.com
Neil Cowan at 203.879.4915 / neilcowan@juno.com