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“The idea came out of my general frustration with poetry readings,” says poet Brittany Dennison. “You talk to poets around town and even they don't like going to readings.”
The “idea”? This afternoon's Face Time with Brittany Dennison, an intimate, performative poetry reading at the Hedreen Gallery that overhauls the (can we admit it?) often staid format of poetry readings.
From 2 to 6 p.m., Dennison will be situated in a room off the main space that participants can enter one at a time. Once inside, Dennison will read largely new works of her own to the one-person audience, though which poems, she says, depend on the listener. When another person enters, the current occupant must decide whether to relinquish their spot or stay. Remote audience members may also call in via Skype, adding another dimension to the reading.
Dennison's reading is part of a larger series of Face Time events, participatory art experiences organized by Hedreen curators (and City Arts CultureMakers) Jessica Powers and Whitney Ford-Terry that Powers describes as “unintimidatingly intimate.”
“Face Time events are designed to combat isolation,” says Powers, citing a study that ranked Washington as the 48th most extroverted state. “Audience members have reported the events to be cathartic (chainsawing wood on the sidewalk at midnight with Eli Hansen), physically difficult (Cat Clifford’s movement workshop based on Yvonne Rainer's celebrated minimalist dance piece 'Trio A') and contemplative (failed documentation and conceptual forecasting with Duncan Scovil).”
Dennison describes today's incarnation of Face Time as “intimate and conversational,” the opposite of a standard poetry reading, poet at the podium and in control. “I suppose you could say that the interactions between listeners are confrontational,” says Dennison. “But walking in on someone in the bathroom isn't confrontational; it's just a little awkward and embarrassing, which is kind of how I imagine it will feel. I will be like poetry's Chris Hansen: I caught you red-handed, wanting to hear poems. 'Why don't you have a seat over there?' But then I'll read you poems, so it's okay.”
Face Time with Brittany Dennison, 2-6 p.m.
The Hedreen Gallery at the Lee Center for the Arts, 905 12th Avenue
Image by Greg Hickman
- Literary
