YNOT-II Open Mic poster
Y-Not II, a tavern comfortably tucked between Downtown and the Lower East Side, has been a cultural hub for many years with special nods for its long-running poetry slams.
Next week, the bar hosts a new kind of open mic, the “Poetry, Prose and Literary Night,” an open reading encompassing fiction and essays as well as poetry. “We started talking and we thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool in winter—when there’s not much to do—to have an open mic that doesn’t necessarily revolve around poetry,’” explains co-organizer Amanda Morden.
Morden’s short stories were the basis for seven episodes of the noirish drama “Hangman Radio,” recorded live at Shaker’s. Her partner in “Poetry, Prose and Literary Night” is essayist Brad Ehlert. They see Y-Not II as an unstuffy, laidback environment for their project. While discussing the idea with Y-Not’s owner, “there were a couple of guys in Packer hats at the bar saying, ‘You’re going to do that here? We’re going to come and see it.’”
There will be a sign-up sheet at the door. Each participant will be allotted 15 minutes to read or perform the text of their choosing. It set up is simple: a microphone, a reading stand. “If someone is moved by a particular portion of a novel [there’s or someone else’s], they can get up and read it—it’s very loose at this point,” Ehlert says,
|
|
If the debut is well received, Morden and Ehlert hope to continue “Poetry, Prose and Literary Night” for several more Mondays this winter—“at least,” Morden says,” until cribbage comes back on Monday nights at the Y-Not.”
“Poetry, Prose and Literary Night” runs 7-10 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23 at Y-Not II, 706 E. Lyon St.
