I'd like you to meet two very special poets today! Regina "Serenity" Wagner and Poet t.l. Sanders. Poetry and short narrative are the playground of writers and these two poets kNew prove without a doubt that poetry exists as a foundational building block in any creative community. Meet them both live on air this Sunday. "Serenity" Wagner Poet, Host, Author, Media Personality, and Actress today on the Ketchupedia Poetry Radio at 6 PM CST. Listen live OneKC Radio 100.1 FM KONN speaking about Poetry for Personal Power and The KC Poetry Scene. (All previous episodes can be found on Spreaker.)
Serenity has dominated the airwaves and internet in Kansas City since 2011, and hosts a weekly radio show, "Speak on it" on KUAW presented by Prose and Verbs Media. An accomplished slam poet winning Jazz Poetry Jams, she was awarded the Best Open Mic Host by the Music & More Foundation in April 2018. A founding member of For the Win Slam, she helped to send her squad to their first national competition. In October 2014, she started a project with Cascade Media group in which she interviewed local poets for their website eventually moving into the position of Head of Arts & Entertainment/ V.P. for Cascade Media Group in late 2015. As of 2017, Serenity has interviewed such celebrities as Regina Belle, Tech N9NE, Courtney Richardson, Fred Hammond, Murphy Lee, Post Malone, and Jane Elliott to name a few. In 2018 she started her own platform Prose & Verbs a consultant and media company in which she plans to continue with media and her artistic endeavors.
This Sunday is the first day of the 2021 Fringe Festival in KC now online as film! The kNew-Born a Kansas City Original Film by actor Poet t.l. sanders is an outgrowth from pure poetry. If you love poetry as performance on stage, you can't miss this!!!!
Author Poet t.l. sanders created 'kNew' a unique one-person poetrical show over the course of the 2019 Fringe Fest thanks to a 2019 poet in residency with Flying Ketchup Press. Out of 75 performances, the one-man show won the Producer's Pick Award. Today, the original film, a prequel to his book, will air for a limited time only, from July 18 to August 1. Fringe Festival KC is the biggest celebration of arts and culture in the Kansas City metropolitan region. Please buy a day pass or a season pass to support your writers, actors, and dreamers.
As the prequel to the solo show and published work, kNew: The Poetic Screenplay, this new film uses one actor, six characters. The 2019 performance was hailed:
"Equally as riveting as For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange," by Victor En Yu Tan, UMKC professor of lighting.
"Go see it! Poet t.l. sanders' kNew program is masterful! This is probably the highest quality performance I've seen in my 9 years of Fringe attendance-- don't miss it! Powerful, beautifully acted, and a testament to perseverance and determination for a chance at a genuine life," writes Laura Marcus Mountjoy.
With the unique tool of poetry, this stage battles against the power of addiction and loss. Buy the book online. How did kNew begin? The journey started as a poet's residency at an art gallery in Midtown. kNew: The Poetic Screenplay is a published book created with editor, Polly Alice McCann. This joint project sparked Flying Ketchup Press, and continues to promote new and diverse authors in poetry and short story. Starting with kNew our poetry outreach is growing internationally. In only three years, a small poetry project book with one poet and one editor has become a multi-character, solo show, and a press to promote other poets and mentor them in both poetics and editing. Sanders has appeared in many local performances, including the Black History Month celebration with KC Streetcar and KC Ballet and the opera The Pearl Fishers. In turn, Flying Ketchup Press has launched Ketchupedia, a podcast and live poetry Radio show with OneKC 100.1 FM and producer Richard Parilla, to promote poetry in the region. Each outgrowth of the project inspiring the next. While much of the literary world shut down, McCann and an increasing number of poets and writers are reaching out to create more connections in the literary and poetic scene in Kansas City.
When asked what he will do in the future, Poet t.l. sanders, a former HS English Teacher and a curriculum specialist is currently pursuing his doctoral degree. Sanders said he hopes to one day take his performance and poetry mentorships and workshops into prisons to enact the story of his film in real-time. "Poetry is Life," he says. And that is the heart of this word power in action. Find the original screenplay as a book for sale online and in Kindle or order locally through AfterWord Tavern & Shelves. Coming soon to bookstores and libraries.
Sanders is an educational speaker and a spoken word artist at many state events and conferences. Find him on YouTube under Bethephenom and on Twitter @PoetTLSanders or www.poetTLSanders.com. (Congrats to Poet for winning first place in the Artful Poetry Contest with Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.)
Poet t.l. Sanders. A modern-day renaissance man who lives to build minds and loves to body build. He speaks French. He plays bass. He is a cage-fighting martial artist. He educates. Give him a stage, he articulates. Lend him an ear, he motivates. He is a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant, a current curriculum director, and a former elementary, middle, and high school English teacher. Poet embraces the value of our shared stories. Whether he is public speaking, teaching, writing or breathing, he has a passion for empowering people. His goal is to inspire, evolve, and expand language one word at a time.
What did reviewers think of kNew: The Poetic Screenplay?
"Intense, gripping . . . a one-two punch . . . written in fire and delivered with thunder," writes reviewer Kelly Luck.
kNew is a powerful storytelling performance that will leave you astounded by Sanders' unparalleled talent as a writer and performer. The caliber of his creativity, stage presence, and delivery deserve to be elevated to a broader stage and audience-Look out Broadway. This is one for you! I'm reminded of the phenomenal 1975 theater performance of Tony Perkins in "Equus." An absolutely masterful show that most certainly IS the BEST of the BEST!
~Teresa Bronston Mckinley
Come see The kNew-Born online at Fringe Festival 2020. Tickets are $25 for single admission, and you'll get access to all the shows for one day, or buy a season pass! July 18 to August 1.
Title: The kNew-Born
Dates of Show: July 18, to August 1, 2021
Artist Talks: Recordings on our Poetry Radio Show
Online: Fringe Festival KC 2021
Genre: Drama, Film, Music, Spoken Word
Ratings: Parental Guidance
Warnings: Adult Language, Other - Drug Use
Run Time: 51 minutes