[NEohioPAL] Ray McNiece - Dobama's First Mondays

[Joyce Casey]

Dobama's First Mondays reading series announces a special event on Monday,
March 3, at 7:00 p.m. in the Heights Arts space at the CH-UH Main Library.
Internationally acclaimed performance poet Ray McNiece will perform his own
work in the first of a quarterly series of "Poets in Performance." Also
included in the program are poets Patricia Averbach, Abdullah Bey and
Rosemarie Fairman.

Ray toured Russia with Yevgeny Yevtushenko and was a featured reader with
Lawrence Ferlinghetti at the opening of City Lights Italia in Florence, but
he still calls Cleveland home. The Orlando Sentinel called him "a modern day
descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a wry sense of
humor."  The Star Phoenix said: "His thoughtful writing combines with
perfectly timed delivery to create a powerful wordscape that owes as much to
jazz as drama."  He was the voice of Woody Guthrie in WCPN/NPR's award
winning radio documentary, Hard Travellin'.

He has published six books of poetry and received numerous awards for his
writing and performance, most recently the 2001 Hart Crane Award from KSU, a
residency in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and a residency at the Jack
Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida. He was the captain of two National Poetry
Slam Championship teams ('92 Boston, '94 Cleveland) and won the Arkansas
Grand Slam, the largest performance poetry prize ever awarded.

The CH-UH Main library is at 2340 Lee Road in the Cedar Lee neighborhood.
Heights Arts is housed on the ground floor of the new wing on the west side
of the street. There is ample free parking just outside the door as well as
across the street in the library's main lot. The suggested donation for
Poets in Performance is $5. Reservations are recommended. Call the Dobama
Theatre box office at 216.932.3396 or 932-6838.

First Mondays returns to its play reading format with Harts and Flowers by
Jean Cummins at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 7.