ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE: Saint George Poetry Festival In Staten Island

Many of the old vaudeville theaters in the northeastern United States are gone, or so badly altered as to be unrecognizable. So when a community rediscovers that it has in its midst a chance to recapture the immense glory of the huge burlesque palaces that grace America's landscape in the first two decades of the 20th century, that's reason enough for a celebration of gathering and support. Throw into that mix some reputable local poetry, blended in with sound and visual recordings of a number of America's best known boho-poets of the 20th century, and you have the makings of a happening. That's exactly what occurred this fall in Staten Island - beginning on the world famous Staten Island ferry and throughout the day in the great vaudeville hall "St George Theater," as the First Annual St. George Poetry Festival. The all-day celebration of poetry on Saturday, September 21, 2002, brought together several generations of poets from across the country to read in a festival atmosphere from Noon until Midnight. The First Annual St. George Poetry Festival was openly declared a benefit for the theatre, which will reopen as a not-for-profit institution once it is restored. Not unlike communities from Pennsylvania and Connecticut to Massachusetts and Maine which have great old vaudeville theaters to work over. But situated as it is at the other end of the Staten Island Ferry from lower Manhattan and the Battery, the St George Theater holds a special place. After all, the free ferry is one of the number one tourist destinations for visitors to the Big Apple, passing as it does the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as it heads downriver towards the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Greeting arrivals to the St George was a young girl standing outside hoisting a 30s era "cigars, cigarettes" style tray aound her neck (no tobacco products here, it was all poetry buttons historic preservation buttons in there), poets from throughout the region gathered to read, hear readings, and absorb the atmosphere of a phenomenal and cavernous structure that local historical people are determined to bring back to its days of former glory. The day featured a host of readers, just a three minute walk from the Staten Island Ferry terminal, including Joshua Beckman, Anselm Berrigan, Garrett Caples, Alan Gilbert, Peter Gizzi, John Godfrey, Robert Kelly, Caroline Knox and Noelle Kocot. Activities included readings on the ferry too, with early afternoon performances by Laura Solomon / Katy Lederer (12:00), John Lowther / Randy Prunty (12:30), Travis Nichols / Noah Gordon (1:O0) and Arielle Greenberg (1:30). And of particular interest to a number of visitors was the showing of a number of short films done in collaboration with poets, as well as rare sound recordings by dozens of poets including Allen Ginsberg, Frank O'Hara, William Burroughs, Elizabeth Bishop, and others. But the centerpiece of the day was the old theater, thought to be a Thomas Lamb structure. Centered in the historic St. George District, the celebration's "hidden agenda" for local civic activists was recognition of the incredible St. George Theatre - considered locally to be one of the city's forgotten treasures and a beautiful, 2800 seat theatre built in 1928 as a vaudeville house and closed for the past 25 years.

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