Def Poetry Jam Launches Encore Tour

The Tony-Winning Phenomenon with Original Broadway Cast Members Begins 51 City National Tour October 10th in Stamford, CT

Def Poetry Jam, the Tony-winning theatrical phenomenon, will launch its encore national tour, returning by audience demand to no fewer than 11 cities where the first tour broke records. The show opens October 10th at The Stamford Center for the Arts in Stamford, CT and will play 51 cities through January 2005.

Featuring the “best of the best” from the smash Broadway production and long-running HBO series, the cast includes many of the performers who electrified Broadway and won the show the 2003 Tony for Best Special Theatrical Event. Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam is conceived and presented by Russell Simmons and Stan Lathan and directed by Mr. Lathan.

Among the stops scheduled for Def Poetry Jam’s victory lap are The Kennedy Center, The Kodak Theatre in LA, New York’s Beacon Theatre and the Chicago Theatre. In addition, such venues as Philadelphia’s Merriam Theatre and Baltimore’s Hippodrome have re-booked the show to meet ticket demand that outstripped availability the first time they hosted the show.

As on Broadway, that first tour was greeted with critical cheers. “Fierce and fantastic, passionate and profound… a truly exhilarating 90 minutes of poetry in motion,” wrote the Boston Herald. The LA Times called it “gut-punching, rib-tickling, soul-stirring” and even on a tour stop in Sydney Australia, that city’s Morning Herald raved, “the poets' eloquence overflows with wit, wisdom and feeling.”

In 2005, this most unlikely of Broadway hits continues its global conquest. A stint at the Auckland Festival in New Zealand and a five-city return visit to Australia will follow the domestic tour.

Where the smash hit HBO series “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry” leaves off, this production takes over. This uplifting evening of contemporary entertainment brings eight performance poets with a new American voice together on stage. The result is an exuberant, insightful and comedic look at who we are and where we are today. The cast includes original Broadway cast members Black Ice, Georgia Me, Lemon, Poetri, Staceyann Chin and Suheir Hammad, along with Shihan, Flaco Navaja and Ishle Yi Park. DJ Reborn provides music.

Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam features set design by Bruce Ryan, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Yael Lubetzky and sound design by Elton P. Halley. The production stage manager is Alice Elliot Smith.

RUSSELL SIMMONS (Producer, Concept) has brought hip-hop to every facet of media and pop culture; in music with the immensely successful music label, Def Jam Recordings; in film with Def Pictures; on television with HBO’s “The Def Comedy Jam”; in the fashion industry with Phat Farm clothing for kids and adults and in publishing with One World Magazine. Coming of age in the late 70’s, just as hip-hop was being born in the African-American neighborhoods of New York City, Simmons immediately understood its great creative significance, on par with earlier African-American art form such as jazz, swing, gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, rock n’roll, soul and funk. From the start of his career, he believed that hip-hop’s appeal could cut across geographic, racial and social boundaries and evolve from a musical style into an expression of lifestyle – a culture unto itself. Hip-hop has become the most influential cultural phenomenon in America today. Mr. Simmons personifies this culture.

STAN LATHAN (Producer, Director, Concept), an accomplished producer and one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors of television and film, received the 2003 Best Theatrical Event Tony award for the Broadway production of Def Poetry Jam. He has directed the pilots of many successful sitcoms - including “Moesha,” “Martin,” “The Parkers,” “The Steve Harvey Show,” “Cedric the Entertainer Presents,” “South Central,” “Amen,” “All of Us,” “Eve!” and, most recently, “Second Time Around” - and one of the first hip-hop feature films, Beat Street. Lathan co-created and executive produced “Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam” for HBO and on tour in theatres across the country. He was recently honored by the Directors Guild of America for his distinguished directing career and for his contributions to his field.

About the Poets

Black Ice, born Lamar Manson, began perfecting his craft on the streets of North Philadelphia. He was discovered by Russell Simmons at New York’s Soul Café and became the first spoken word artist signed to Def Jam Records. Black Ice has received standing ovations from audiences as diverse as those at the Hip-Hop Summit, the Black Congressional Caucus, the Source Youth Foundation and ShiNE, and performed for such notables as the Reverend Jessie Jackson, Muhammad Ali and Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Georgia Me is the first and only person to win at Club 112 Apollo night (voted toughest audience in America) an undisputed six times and won the finals twice. She hails from Atlanta, where she is featured regularly on radio. Georgia Me was captain of the fabulous Moore Epics Slam Competition. She was featured on the first season of HBO’s “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.”

Lemon has traveled the spoken work and poetry scene for the last five years, appearing at universities across the country as well as the Andy Warhol Museum, New York Theatre Workshop, Joe’s Pub, P.S. 122, Symphony Space, St. John the Divine and Sing Sing Prison. Lemon was featured on “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry” on HBO and in Spike Lee’s film, She Hate Me.

Poetri has performed his work in theatres, on disc and on radio and television. He was featured on “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry” on HBO and has written, produced and arranged over 150 commercials for such organizations as Nike, NFL Films and BET. Poetri has also collaborated with Bootsy Collins, Nona Hendryx, LL Cool J and The Roots producer Ahmir Thompson.

Staceyann Chin, a resident o fNew York City and a Jamaican national, was a featured performer on HBO’s “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.” Staceyann won the 1999 Chicago People of Color Slam; was the first runner up in the 1999 Outright Poetry Slam; winner of the 1998 Lambda Poetry Slam; a finalist in the 1999 Nuyorican Grand Slam; winner of the 1998 and 2000 Slam This!; and winner of WORD: The First Slam for Television.

A Palestinian-American from Brooklyn, Suheir Hammad was featured on HBO’s “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry,” hosted by Mos Def. Her performance merited praise from The New York Times’ Caryn James and Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker. Her poems have been featured in numerous publications and on the BBC World Service and National Public Radio.

Flaco Navaja recently appeared in “Russell Simon presents Def Poetry” on HBO and with Def Peotry Jam at Edinburgh's Fringe Festival and on national tour. He is a member of the theatre group UNIVERSES and the Bomba and Plena group YERBA BUENA. He is also a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect.

Shihan, a native of New York’s Lower East Side, became the Los Angeles and Hollywood Grand Slam Champion in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Shihan has made appearances on all 4 seasons of ‘Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry’ and has written for Pepsi, Nike, Reebok, Sebastian Int’l, MTV’s “Rock the Vote” campaign and the “Schoolhouse Rocks” compilation series.

Ishle Yi Park is a writer, educator and activist who has performed at colleges in the United States, Cuba and Korea as both a solo artist and as part of a pan-Asian collective Feedback. She is the first Korean American woman to compete in the National Poetry Slam. In 2004 she was named Poet Laureate of Queens, NY.