Rhythm & Verse: A Literary and Music Salon
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Next Salon is Virtual!
Friday, March 5th, 6:45pm
via Zoom
Featured Vocalist
Joilet Harris

Featured Actors
Emma Gibson and Marcia Saunders

 

Theme for the Salon Evening: Hope in the Dark

When day comes we step out of the shade,

Aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn blooms as we free it.

For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it,

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

~From The Hill We Climb - Poem by Inaugural Poet, Amanda Gorman

 

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Joilet Harris
Joilet Harris is a Philadelphia treasure whose powerful, dynamic and passionate performances command attention on the stage and screen.

Her television roles include the recurring role of Officer Caroline Massey on The Wire, and additional guest starring roles include on New York Undercover, Law & Order: SVU, Philly, and Hack. Joilet also starred on the big screen, appearing in the films Rocky V, Beloved, 12 Monkeys, and several more.
In addition to developing her own cabaret shows, Joilet has also toured the world as a vocalist, most recently playing Ella Fitzgerald in Ella, The Ella Fitzgerald Story. She starred as Gloria in the Broadway-bound Because of Winn Dixie and has also appeared as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, Miss Jones in How to Succeed in Business… and in Ain't Misbehavin' and It Ain't Nothin But the Blues.

She has appeared on many Philadelphia stages including Arden Theatre Company, 1812 Productions, Walnut Street Theatre, Act 2 Playhouse, People's Light and Theatre Company and Delaware Theatre Company. She is a Barrymore-Award winner for her performance as Caroline in Caroline, or Change produced by the Arden Theatre Company. "To God Be the Glory for all His many blessings in my life!!"


Emma Gibson
Emma Gibson is a writer, director, actor and producer, originally from the UK but now living in Philadelphia. In the UK she worked as an actress in London, Edinburgh, on tour and regionally around the UK in both new writing and classical theatre, for BBC radio drama, and film.

In Philadelphia she has worked with many local companies, and most recently performed in the Barrymore nominated production of Perfect Blue. She has also directed multiple classical theatre productions at The Shipley School. As the founding producing artistic director of Tiny Dynamite she has produced over 20 productions ranging from Scottish one acts, to full length plays that integrate complex technology in performance.

She is also the proud Mom to Oscar and Willow. Thanks to Susan for this wonderful opportunity. www.britishemma.com


Marcia Saunders

People’s Light: Over 85 productions including Cora in Morning’s at Seven, Ethel in Moon Over Buffalo, Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility, Stella in Stella and Lou, Mrs. Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, Dotty in Noises Off, Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Skin of our Teeth, My Mother Said I Never Should, A Room Of One’s Own, Heartbreak House, Abelard & Heloise, Toys in the Attic, Memory of Water, The Stonehouse, Hamlet, The Misanthrope, The Taming of the Shrew.

Theatre Includes: Recently Paige in HIR at Simpatico Theatre, made her directorial debut at Candlelight Theater in Delaware directing Steel Magnolias. Off Broadway: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic Theatre Co.) Regional: The Wilma, Arden Theatre, Two River Theater, Quintessence Theater. Playing Claire in A Delicate Balance garnered Marcia a Best Supporting Actress award and she has received numerous Barrymore nominations including Best Actress for Stella and Lou and A Man from Nebraska.

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Selected Authors - March 5, 2021

Mike Cohen (Beyond the Twilight Zone) hosts Poetry Aloud and Alive at Philadelphia's Big Blue Marble Book Store. His articles on sculpture regularly appear in the Schuylkill Valley Journal in which he is a contributing editor. His colleague in these endeavors is also his constant companion, cohabitant, cohort, and confidante, Connie, who keeps Mike and his writing from going off-kilter.

Carole Croll (Avocado Prayer) has been crafting poetry for over twenty years. She has been awarded by the Illinois State Poetry Society, The Nevada Poetry Society, and Poets and Patrons of Chicago. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and collections. She is the author of a volume of poetry entitled The Gift Forthcoming, poems of love, beauty, and spirit. Her most recent publication, A Hundred Pairs of Eyes by Kelsay Books, is due this spring.

Ashini J. Desai (Leo Rising in July) is a co-founder of Dandelion Revolution Press and balances creative writing with family and a technology management career. Her poems have been published in anthologies Cities, Overplay/Underdone, as well as River Poets Journal, Philadelphia Poets, Thema, plus an Asian-American anthologies Word Masala, Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves. Her essays were included in the Nancy Drew Anthology and Labor Pains and Birth Stories. Her short story was published in Not Quite As You Were Told anthology and more information at www.dandelionrevolutionpress.wordpress.com.

Katherine Hahn Falk's (Hope in the Dark) poems have been recognized through publications and awards including an upcoming chapbook, (Moonstone Press, 2021) and event commissions. She was Pennsylvania Poet Laureate for Bucks County in 2017. Recently, Katherine participated in a tribute program on the life and work of H.D. and she helped edit an anthology of poetry prompts for HS teachers called Fire Up The Poems. She loves working with students on their poetry in their classrooms.

Ray Greenblatt (The Doors are Open) published two books of poetry in 2020: UNTIL THE FIRST LIGHT (Parnilis Media) and MAN IN A CROW SUIT (BookArts Press). He also has book reviews published by: The Dylan Thomas Society, Graham Greene Society, and John Updike Society.

Marie Kane (Mooncake Festival) is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a Bucks County, Pennsylvania Poet Laureate. Her poetry has appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review, The Meadowland Review, Wordgathering, and others. She has published three poetry collections; her first, Survivors in the Garden, explores her life with multiple sclerosis. Kane is a Board member and judge for the Bucks County Main Street Voices Poetry Contest; and is the final judge for the National Sarah Mook scholastic poetry contest.

Christine Caruso McKee (You Could Be My Sister) loved poetry since early childhood. Preoccupied during her forty years as an educator, McKee began to write poetry in the early 2000s. She has been published in Bucks County Writer (PA), Her Mark (Chicago, IL), U.S. Worksheets (Princeton, NJ), Schuylkill Valley Journal (Philadelphia, PA), Presence (Bellevue, WA), and in other print and online journals. Her first book, On Shady Lane, was published in August 2015 and is available on amazon.com.

Mary Richardson Miller (Pressed Petals) is the author and photographer of a book inspired by working in Guatemala for seven years. The Women of Candelaria (Pomegranate Art Books). Her poems have been published in Earth's Daughter, The Rambler, Vox, the University of Virginia's Hospital Drive and in their anthology, Formation of Identity and in the Mayapple Press anthology, Love Over Sixty: An Anthology of Women's Poems; as well as in U.S.1 Worksheets, Verse Daily, and other publications. Her chapbook, Billy's Child, published by Lucia Press is her first book of poetry.

Rebecca Neckritz (goddess) is a Philadelphia-based writer and performer who dabbles in collage, ukulele, and baking. She currently attends Temple University, where she studies Theater and Advertising. Rebecca writes about self-love, anxiety, urban tragedy, men who disappoint her, and public transportation.

Steve Nolan (Esperanza) spent 30 years in the military and 25 years as a mental health professional. He has published in numerous journals and his poetry was featured on National Public Radio, Morning Edition, upon his return from Afghanistan in 2007. He is the author of "Go Deep," "Base Camp," and "American Carnage, An Officer's Duty to Warn." His work reflects his commitment to social justice.

Faith Paulsen's (Another Poem About Light) work appears in the recent Ghost City Press and Book of Matches, as well as Thimble Literary Magazine, Evansville Review, Mantis, Psaltery and Lyre, and Terra Preta, among others. Her work also appears in the anthology 50/50: Poems & Translations by Women over 50 (QuillsEdge). She has been nominated for a Pushcart, and her chapbook A Color Called Harvest (Finishing Line Press) was published in 2016. A second chapbook is expected in 2021.

Cleveland Wall (Postage Due) is a poet and teaching artist who performs with poetry improv troupe No River Twice and with musical combo The Starry Eyes. Her work has appeared recently in River and South Review, Schuylkill Valley Journal, and Monday journal. She is the author of Let X=X (Kelsay Books) and many small, handmade chapbooks.

 
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