Tonight at 7:30 p.m., the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery will present an "Evening of Spoken Word" featuring Jared Paul and Caroline Rothstein, two performance poets known for their social activism.
The event will also include performances by student musicians and poets as well as a question-and-answer session with Paul and Rothstein. As part of the event, the Tang Museum's exhibitions will be open for viewing until 9 p.m.
Audiences should be prepared for strong language and mature content.
Paul, a finalist in the Individual World Poetry Slam in 2006 and 2007, is an organizer, independent journalist and social worker from Providence, R.I.
He has helped organize forums, electoral campaigns, street theater actions, anti-war protests, labor rallies, and lobbying efforts. He covered the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions for WRIU radio (the University of Rhode Island radio station) and wrote about both conventions in 2008 for the Rhode Island publication "The Agenda."
"I've seen Jared Paul perform numerous times, and I'm always blown away by his passion and his sense of urgency," said Adina Fried '12. "He has the ability to involve and captivate an audience-no matter its size or demographic makeup-with his unique message and powerful voice."
A New York City-based writer, journalist and performer, Caroline Rothstein was a member of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe slam team, which placed second at Poetry Slam Incorporated's National Poetry Slam 2010.
A longtime activist in eating disorder recovery, Rothstein hosts the video-blog "Body Empowerment," sharing her own recovery story as a means of promoting positive body image. Her one-woman play "Faith," about her struggle with an eating disorder, is part of the Culture Project's 2012 Women Center Stage festival in New York City.
A 2006 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she coached the University of Pennsylvania slam team to championships in 2007 and 2009. She is director of the university's Excelano Project, a spoken word poetry organization.
"This event is part of the Tang's Thursday night series, with events that relate to the museum's current exhibitions. We invited these poets because we think their presentations will illuminate something new about the works on display by Nancy Grossman and Donald Moffett," said event co-organizer Victoria Manganiello '12.