UP (When I Grow): One night only! This Saturday!

Submitted By: Fabulous Rob on September 8, 2010 No Comment

This team of visual and literary artists will be in Portland for one night only! Check out the show at In Other Words bookstore this Saturday and for a sample of their work check out the trailer at the end of this post.

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by Elaina Ellis

One wanted to grow up to be a falcon. Another wanted to be a radiologist, while another just wanted to wear his sister’s pink leg warmers. They all wanted to grow up to be alive. They all wanted to grow up to be writers.

What happens when you team 6 spoken word artists, 2 singer/songwriters, and a small team of filmmakers to tell new stories about childhood dreams? What if the ensemble is queer, fierce, and unafraid to expose the heartbreak along with the hope? Answer: UP (When I Grow), a Seattle-based, multi-genre show that will visit Portland for one night only. To see this dreamboat afloat, clear your calendar for this Saturday evening, September 11th, at In Other Words Bookstore. Tickets are available here.

UP (When I Grow) is a collaborative project of two producers: Elaina M. Ellis of TumbleMe Productions, and Lane Stroud of Mae Pictures. Both production companies, based in Seattle, are emerging projects led by queer-identified working artists who are invested in creating new, innovative materials that tell important stories. Ellis and Stroud began meeting in the late Spring to create a vision for this show in particular, gathering an ensemble in the early Summer and commissioning new stories, poems, and songs. Meanwhile, Stroud went to work creating short films based on concepts proposed by the poets and songwriters. The result is a kind of live “mixed tape,” alternating short film, poems, songs, and stories.

The ensemble for UP (When I Grow) features Daemond Arrindell, long-time Slammaster for the Seattle Poetry Slam; Amber Darland, recent winner of the North Carolina Songwriter’s Coop Song Competition; Okonomode, recent featured in Reverie: Now I’m Fine; and the list goes on: Patch Avery’s work has been compared to the lyrical complexity of Tony Morrison, Laurie Cox has been compared to David Sedaris, and Britt Ashley posesses the best of of Aimee Bender’s strangeness and Kim Addonizio’s grit. In addition, producers Stroud and Ellis are nationally touring spoken word artists, and will also perform in the line-up.

This is a rare, one-time only opportunity to check out what Seattle’s queer spoken word scene has got to offer. Best of all? Partial proceeds from the show go to support Queer Youth Space/Three Wings, a youth-led organization seeking to establish safe and empowering space for LGBTQ young people in Seattle. Buy your tickets today: Brown Paper Tickets dot com, and tell your friends about your new Saturday evening plans!