“Story & Verse: A Storytelling, Poetic, and Spoken Word Open Mic” is a free event held on the third Thursday of each month at the Arts Council of Princeton’s Solley Theater. Anyone can sign up to perform if they show up by 6:45 PM and the event runs from 7:00-8:30 PM.
Each month, the Arts Council of Princeton posts a new theme on its website for the participants to base their five-minute performances on. They can perform anything from rap to poems, personal stories to songs. This past February’s theme was, “It’s Not That Kind of Party.”
As the artists were called up to present their pieces, they were asked to share as much as they wanted within the allotted time. Some chose to explain their inspiration while others immediately started their act.
People from diverse backgrounds came to share their creativity.
Abisola Kusimo, who lives in Jackson Township, shared a poem about the experience of immigrants and new Americans experiencing the difficulties of having an uncommon name, while still being proud of its root and meaning.
Kusimo said, “It’s such a shared experience that our names get butchered when we come to this country. Even for some of us born and bred [here], our names are still mispronounced and invalidated in different ways.”
Kusimo continued, “So, I just think [my poem] is a funny way to both introduce people to Yoruba names, language, culture and to kind of bring the audience together in a way that they also feel validated and seen.”
Athira Jacob, another participant, from Plainsboro Township, said one of her inspirations for her poems was dealing with the feelings of grief about her grandmother, who recently passed away.
Jacob said, “[I experience] guilt of being here, in this country, while she was somewhere else. Also a bit of isolation, you know, you don’t have family here who can support you through that.”
Jacob added, “Where does that leave me and my story now? Because she was a huge part of my story, and now she’s not there. So what does that say about my life now?”
As performers neared the end of their pieces, a volunteer pianist played the piano to let them know that their time was up. Although a few of them passed their time limit, the pianist let them finish.
In between acts, the host came up and read responses from people who signed up but were not confident to speak in public and preferred to have their work presented anonymously.
At the February event, so many people signed up that the event ran over by a little over an hour. But Melissa Kuscin, the event’s organizer and the Programming and Marketing Manager at the Arts Council, was prepared.
She said, “The beauty of an open mic is you have a room and a microphone. And we’re very blessed to have community members that volunteer.” She added, “You do not have to be an artist to come here. If you want to be the most creative version of yourself, there’s something for you to do here.”
