Spoken word performance aims to spark conversation

By Teddy Rogge
Western Herald

(Chyn Wey Lee / Western Herald) Kinetic Affect members Kirk Latimer (above) and Gabriel Giron put on a theatrical show at Kalamazoo Has Talent at Wayside West on Sept. 6th. The spoken word poetic duo won first place in the competition.

This weekend Kinetic Affect will take the stage at the brand new Farmer’s Alley Theatre for a powerful performance of spoken word that has the group collaborating with several musical artists as well as incorporating crowd participation.

The production, titled “Speak It Forward,” chronicles an artistic narrative of the human journey from birth to death with a simple goal: to inspire others.

“Essentially what we are trying to do is spark conversation,” Gabriel Giron said, who according to the group’s Web site is the rough yet sensitive half of Kinetic Affect.  “If we can open that door for conversation then we’ve succeeded.”

Former slam poetry competitors, Giron and Kirk Latimer put differences aside to challenge stereotypes and provide a forum to individuals who have become too comfortable with allowing their voices to remain silent.  Their first production entitled “Word Weavers” confronted male stereotypes such as the need for men portray to themselves as a dominant force that must stand independent and refrain from overly expressing emotions of love and sadness.

Their piece “Wonders of the World” deals with the separation between a man’s love of a woman and his need to not allow too much emotion lest he be thought of as weak.  The poem claims that it is this gap that ultimately leads men to hurt those they try to save.

Just like the “Word Weavers” performance, “Speak It Forward” will match the rhythmic voices of Giron and Latimer with the sitar of Steve Lieto, the guitar and voice of Micaela Kingslight and the piano stylings of Nich Mueller.

“Micaela is just really talented.  We love her voice,” Giron said.

Kingslight and Kinetic Affect competed in the Kalamazoo Has Talent competition together where a shared appreciation of each other’s craft led to a collaboration.  This will not be the first time pianist Mueller has been involved with the Kinetic Affect.  Mueller was coached by Latimer while on the forensics team, taught by him in the classroom and effectively acts as a link to the profession of teaching that Latimer will be taking a break from to devote more time to his spoken word performances.

“If I were to do [Kinetic Affect and teach] this year I would do neither one effectively,” Latimer said.

“Speak It Forward” will be performed at the Farmer’s Alley Theatre on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. and on Sunday Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $10 for students and $20 for adults.

For more information on the performance,  visit kineticaffect.com or farmersalleytheatre.com.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Oct 23 2008. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com