Ian Thal to Feature

At Club Passim Open Poetry Series

By Susie Davidson

CORRESPONDENT

Poetry and mime will fuse and meld at Club Passim’s Open Poetry Night Oct. 14, as performance artist Ian Thal presents a feature length solo show.

The Open Poetry series, the brainchild of poet and songwriter James O’Brien, evolved from his desire to strip the traditional poetry open mike down to the barest of essentials. At O’Brien’s podium, there is no time limitation, no sign up, no intros and, in fact, no podium. Rather, he constructs an elemental scene with a microphone and a projected shaft of light.

“Part of my project in Boston, from the time I started my career as a performer and proponent of local performance art,” he said, “has been to create new and exciting environments for art. Club Passim has allowed me tremendous leeway as an artist and a presenter, and the Open Poetry Night is part of this process.”

The event occurs roughly once every six weeks. It begins with a feature poet who performs for roughly one half hour. O’Brien feels that the generous set of spoken word will, ideally, challenge the performer to create a true “show”. He put much into the conception of the minimalist moments that make up the night.

“Poets govern themselves,” he said, “for a few hours, as a community. The ability to share a space and profit from each other's contributions creates a more intense listening experience for the artists and the audience. There is less of a ‘cattle coral’ feel to the show; it's not simply a parade of hopefuls waiting for their five minutes and then packing up to leave the room.”

The night is unregulated; a collection basket is passed. “The overall format,” said O’Brien, “allows performing poets to bring their work to a truly open-ended space.”

Ian Thal began regularly performing as a poet and spoken word artist in 1997 in varied Boston and Cambridge venues such as Stone Soup, Squawk Coffeehouse, and the Open Bark at the Out of the Blue Gallery. Patchwork denim jeans, combat boots, and fanciful hats accent his stage persona, which can often comes across as a punk rock interpretation of the characters from the commedia dell’arte.

Thal performs regularly, along with James Van Looy and Billy Barnum, in the intergenerational performance troupe Cosmic Spelunker Theater. “I love working with Cosmic Spelunker Theater,” Thal noted, “but the challenge of a feature length solo gig is exciting as well.”

O’Brien snagged Thal when he saw him read in the open mic portion of his show.

“I hadn’t planned to be reading that night,” recalled Thal. “I hadn’t even known there was a poetry series; I had come to attend a reception for a photography exhibition. In some grey fissure of my brain, I am still flabbergasted.”

“Originally,” said O’Brien, “our features came from the leaders of the Boston poetry community, but lately, we've had the luxury of booking features from the loyal poets at our event.”

November’s Open Poetry Night at the 47 Palmer St. venue will feature Indigo Moor; in January, O’Brien will showcase Senia Maymen.

Admission to the Open Poetry event is $5. Call 617-492-7679 for reservations or visit http://www.clubpassim.org for more information.