This past Thursday evening, Rochester Spoken Word and Writers & Books co-hosted Listening to the Future: An Evening of Prose and Poetry by Area High School Students. In early May, we put out a call to local high school teachers and mentors to nominate students to participate in this inaugural event. They took time out of their busy schedules to provide us with 12 extremely talented young writers. For our first stab at this, we hoped we’d manage to assemble a pleasant evening of student readings. What we got was an event that surpassed our wildest dreams in terms of talent, energy, bravery, quality, subject matter, and poise. The sold-out crowd agreed. These kids knocked it out of the park, and set the bar extremely high for future participants.
If you didn’t attend, be sad, and then mark your calendars for next year’s event. The future has spoken and we listened. From what we heard, we’re certain we’ll be hearing many of these same voices for years to come.
Lineup for Listening to the Future, Thursday 6/8/2017 at Writers & Books: No Judgements — Emily Ash (Mendon HS, nominated by Jude Dietz) Why? — Nasmere Johnson (School of the Arts, nominated by Marcy Gamzon) In My Humble Opinion — Kamilah Sobers (Mendon HS, nominated by Jude Dietz) On What We Teach Girls — Katherine Johnson (Victor HS, nominated by Jeremy Hawkinson) What’s Your Favorite Color? — Asher Phillips (School of the Arts, nominated by Marcy Gamzon)
Excerpt from Schrodinger’s Void — Erin Colaluca (Minerva Deland, nominated by Nina Alvarez)
Excerpt from Later, if not Today — Alan Tu (Pittsford Sutherland HS, nominated by Monica Gebell) Encounter with Time — Reeham Sohail (Pittsford Sutherland HS, nominated by Monica Gebell)
Ceiling — Juno Perez (School of the Arts, nominated by Marcy Gamzon) ME — Noor Lima-Boudakian (Pittsford Sutherland HS, nominated by George Steele)
Excerpt from Teller of Fairy Tales — Nina Stornelli (Pittsford Sutherland HS, nominated by Evvy Fanning) My American Poem — Raja Weathers (School of Inquiry, nominated by Kara Miller)
Special Thanks To:
Sally Bittner Bonn, Al Abonado & Kyle Semmel of Writers & Books for their assistance in making this happen
All of the nominating teachers and mentors listed above. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Julio Nieves for his mad MC skills
Martin Petrella for photographing the event
Kathy Collina & Amy Zelazny for (wo)manning the all-important popcorn and merch tables
Listening to the Future: An Evening of Prose and Poetry by Area High School Students, June 12, 2017 at Writers & Books
Only the cool kids will be wearing this T-Shirt!
It’s not a party without popcorn!
Our speakers begin to arrive.
Our MC, Julio Nieves, mingles with the talent.
Julio gives some stage directions.
The real heroes of the evening, our popcorn makers/merch sellers, Kathy Collina and Amy Zelazny.
Julio does a mic check with Noor Lima-Boudakian
Kamilah Sobers checks out the program.
The cast gets themselves ready.
Rochester Spoken Word Co-Founder, Scott Seifritz, talks to the students.
Julio chats with Sally Bittner Bonn and Al Abonado, our friends from Writers & Books who helped make this night happen.
Rochester Spoken Word co-founders, Scott Seifritz and Evvy Fanning compare notes.
Julio chats with Asher Phillips, Emily Ash, and Nasmere Johnson.
The sell-out crowd begins to fill the room.
Sometimes the waiting actually is the hardest part.
Julio welcomes the crowd.
Sally Bittner Bonn, Director of Youth Education at Writers & Books, talks about their organization.
Sally Bittner Bonn, Director of Youth Education at Writers & Books
The crowd responds to one of Sally’s questions.
Scott Seifritz, Co-Founder of Rochester Spoken Word, explains how this all came together.
Scott Seifritz, Co-Founder of Rochester Spoken Word
Scott Seifritz, Co-Founder of Rochester Spoken Word
Evvy Fanning, Co-Founder of Rochester Spoken Word, talks about the importance of youths writing and being heard.
Evvy Fanning, Co-Founder of Rochester Spoken Word
Evvy Fanning, Co-Founder of Rochester Spoken Word
Julio Nieves gets the party started by introducing the first of our 12 speakers.
Emily Ash reads No Judgments.
Emily Ash
Emily Ash
Emily Ash
Off to a good start, Julio brings up reader No. 2.
Nasmere Johnson reads Why?
Nasmere Johnson
Nasmere Johnson
Scott loves what he’s hearing!
Kamilah Sobers reads In My Humble Opinion
Kamilah Sobers
Kamilah Sobers
Katherine Johnson reads On What We Teach Girls.
Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson
Asher Phillips reads What’s Your Favorite Color?
Asher Phillips
Asher Phillips
Erin Colaluca reads an excerpt from her play, Schrodinger’s Void.
Erin Colaluca
Erin Colaluca
After intermission, the next group await their turn to read.
Alan Tu kicks off Act II with an excerpt from his story Later, If Not Today.
Alan Tu
Alan Tu
Alan Tu
Reeham Sohail reads Encounter with Time.
Reeham Sohail
Reeham Sohail
Juno Perez reads her poem, Ceilings.
Juno Perez
Juno Perez
Juno Perez
Julio comments on the amazing level of talent this evening.
Noor Lima-Boudakian performs her poem, ME.
Noor Lima-Boudakian
Noor Lima-Boudakian
The audience enjoying this special night.
Nina Stornelli reads an excerpt from her story, Teller of Fairy Tales.
Nina Stornelli
Nina Stornelli
Alan Tu, Juno Perez, and Nina Stornelli watch our final performer.
Raia Weathers reads My American Poem.
Raia Weathers
Raia Weathers
The inaugural cast of Listening to the Future! Front (L-R): Raia Weathers, Nina Stornelli, Noor Lima-Boudakian, Reeham Sohail, Juno Perez, Kamilah Sobers, Katherine Johnson, Erin Colaluka. Back (L-R): Nasmere Johnson, Emily Ash, Alan Tu, Asher Philips.
The 2017 cast of Listening to the future with our MC, Julio Nieves.
The inaugural Listening to the Future is in the books! Thank you to everyone who made this amazing night happen!
