“SlamNation: The Sport of Spoken Word”

I do not think any of us would disagree with the statement that getting up in front of an audience is not easy to do. Something that most of us would find even harder is revealing our emotions or aspects of a personal life in front of a group of people who is unknown. “SlamNation: The Sport of Spoken Word” was an appropriate documentary to show to a Theatre Appreciation class for a variety of reasons. Live performances are very unique in the sense that there is no trial-and-error; there is only one chance to recite. Live theatres, as well as poetry slams, require rehearsal and working towards finding the perfect tone of voice necessary to convey to the audience what one wants them to feel.  The words, especially the delivery of words, are an aspect of both theatre and poetry recitations that are critical to captivating the audience that will, in turn, create positive memories of the performing arts. A show that is live is live because it has an aspect that many forms of acting do not have, instantaneous audience.  The audience is the judge in all forms of performances.  In poetry slams, the audience members are asked to score the poets. For other mediums, it is not as direct.  The recommendations are from friend-to-friend and if an individual hated a performance, the likelihood that any of that person’s friends or those people’s friends of attending is very low. A theatre class should not only explore plays but other forms of live recitals. The methods may be different but the same preparation is needed to be successful in a specific area of the performing arts.