Center for Poetry, Poetic Drama and the Spoken Word
The purpose of The Harold Clurman Center for Poetry, Poetic Drama and the Spoken Word is to explore the relationship between the actor and dramatic language, to celebrate dramatic and poetic language as a necessary but perhaps under-appreciated aspect of the actor’s art and craft, and to open channels of communication between poets, playwrights, actors, directors, voice specialists and critics in order to better understand issues of written and spoken language and the relationship between them. The Board of Advisors for this Center is Literary Critic Harold Bloom, Poet John Ashbery, Poet Grace Schulman, Voice Experts Cicely Berry, Andrew Wade and Deborah Hecht.
“In the true spirit of Harold Clurman, for which it was named, the poetry reading series at the Stella Adler Conservatory is marvelous for its inter-cultural daring. The audiences are exciting for their mix of young actors, writers, and dedicated readers. To appear there is to be fully aware of stage presence in reciting poetry and of the poetry in stage presence. At one reading, I picked up a wax rose from a stage set and presented it to one of the poets. It was wax, not real, but for me symbolic of the unity of theater and poetry. The two arts are inextricably joined.”
– Grace Schulman, Poet
Poet Laureate
Award-Winning Writer Sonia Sanchez is Poet Laureate in perpetuity.
Poet in Residence
Award Winning Writer Evie Shockley is the 2023-2024 Poet-in-Residence.
Poet & literary scholar Evie Shockley thinks, creates, and writes with her eye on a Black feminist horizon. Her books of poetry include suddenly we, semiautomatic, and the new black. Her work has twice garnered the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, has been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and has appeared internationally. Her honors include the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Award, the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Holmes National Poetry Prize, and the Stephen Henderson Award, and her joys include participating in poetry communities such as Cave Canem and collaborating with like-minded artists working in various media. Shockley is the Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University.
Previous Poet-in-Residence Artists include:
Sonia Sanchez, 2022-2023
Mark Doty, 2021-2022
Rachel Eliza Griffiths, 2020-2021
Grace Schulman, 2019-2020
Gregory Pardlo, 2018-2019
Idra Novey, 2017-2018
Yusef Komunyakaa, 2016-2017
Sonia Sanchez, 2015-2016
The Harold Clurman Poetry Reading Series
The Harold Clurman Poetry Reading Series, created in 1997, brings great poets to the Studio to read their work and, if interested, discuss their artistic process. Poetry readings are free and open to the public.
2023-2024 Poetry Series:
Oct. 31, 2023 – Evie Shockley, Terrance Hayes and Brenda Shaughnessy
Jan. 31, 2024 – Gregory Pardlo and Anders Carlson-Wee
Feb. 12, 2024 – Idra Novey, Christina Delaine and Sean Runnette
Participating Artists Include:
| John Ashbery Susan Baron Erin Belieu Reginald Dwayne Betts Harold Bloom Cheryl Boyce-Taylor Mahogany L. Browne Alexander Chee Marc Cohen Henri Cole Alfred Corn Darian Dauchan Deborah Diggs Mark Doty Carol Muske Dukes Marcella Durand Cornelius Eady Jonathan Galassi Forrest Gander Aracelis Girmay Manuel Gonzalez Colin Greer Marilyn Hacker |
Rachel Hadas Terrance Hayes Gerrit Henry Edward Hirsh Marie Howe Saeed Jones Ty Jones Galway Kinnell Kenneth Koch Yusef Komunyakka Li-Young Lee David Lehman Philip Levine Anne Marie Macari Carolyn Martin Cate Marvin Jeffrey McDaniel Stanley Moss Peter Nickowitz Idra Novey Sharon Olds Madeleine Olnek Gregory Pardlo |
Cathy Park-Hong Molly Peacock Robert Pinsky Liam Rector Alice Reys F.D. Reeve Eugene Richie Grace Schulman Martha Serpas Ravi Shankar Brenda Shaughnessy Reginald Shephard James Sherry Evie Shockley Charles Simic Jonathan Skinner Patricia Smith Gerald Stern Mark Strand James Tate Susan Wheeler C.K. Williams Jerry Williams |
