Best Contemporary American Poetry Series

The zeitgeist of contemporary American poetry is happening at the intersection of great writing and great performance, and if poetry is to gain ground in both relevance and effectiveness, it is that intersection that needs to be explored. With that as the driving force, Write NOW produces the Best Contemporary American Poetry Series, a series of Boadway-quality theatre shows that feature the best performance poets in American today. The current run of the series is the critically acclaimed The Drums Inside Your Chest, and features poets performing with musicians and magicians in what has been hailed as "world class" and "a Woodstock of poetic celebration." The 2007 Drums was held at the Brentwood Theatre; the 2008 and 2009 Drums were held at the New Los Angeles Theatre Centre in downtown Los Angeles; and Drums 2010 will be held August 14th at the Largo Coronet Theatre.

The BCAPS performances are designed to attract new audiences to poetry and to inspire greater participation from the existing audience by exhibiting poetry in an elevated context: poems performed by those who wrote it, backed up by gifted musicians, with a magician and a host that lead the audience through an "experience" rather than a "reading." In sum, a show that guarantees to charge souls, stir hearts and create believers in the twin arts of poetry of spoken word.

Past performers include Amber Tamblyn, Bucky Sinister, Beau Sia, Mindy Nettifee, Buddy Wakefield, Derrick Brown, Jeffrey McDaniel, Brendan Constantine, Mike McGee, Wanda Coleman, Roger Bonair-Agard, Andrea Gibson, magician Rob Zabrecki, singer-songwriter Emily Wells, and San Fransisco Poet-Laureate Jack Hirschman. Visit the Drums Inside Your Chest website at www.drumsinsideyourchest.com. The documentary film of the first Drums Inside Your Chest appeared at the 2009 Newport Beach Film Festival.

Poetry Community Support Programs

Write NOW is dedicated to supporting poets, poetry communities and poetry organizations by providing funding and leadership for noteworthy projects, fostering communication and collaboration between diverse communities, and producing workshops and retreats.

Write NOW sponsored its first writers' retreat at the OJAI Foundation in the spring of 2008. It was a four day retreat designed to foster growth, provide rest and relaxation, encourage collaboration among writers, and develop key leaders for future community initiatives. Currently, Write NOW retreats are not open to the public due to limited resources. Poets can inquire about upcoming retreat opportunities by writing to COMMUNITY SUPPORT PROGRAMS.

As resources grow, through grants and community fundraisers, our Poetry Community Support Programs will expand. Stay tuned for the announcement of upcoming 2010 workshops and retreats.

PoetryTickets.com Event Services

Write NOW operates the event website PoetryTickets.com to provide a Ticket-Master-fee-free portal for poetry lovers to get tickets to large poetry events and festivals. Visit the website to see what events are currently on sale, or to request assistance in pre-saling tickets for your next big event.