Roots of Rap

On February 16 the Interborough Repertory Theater Company from New York City will bring their traveling educational performance for children to the Children's Museum of the East End (CMEE). Called The Roots of Rap: Poetry, the show consists of a group of professional actors that travel all over the tri-state area presenting performances to educate children about the poetry of rap music and the history and culture behind it. Jacqui Leader, director of programming at CMEE, said, "The group comes highly recommended. For black history month I like to do something different, exciting and educational."

Kori Schneider, executive director of the Interborough Repertory Theater said, "Roots of Rap gives the history of where rap came from. It's a great show for the kids - really interactive."

The performance opens with a modern rap to actively engage the audience. "The show has been going for 15 to 20 years, so you can imagine how much it has changed with pop culture. We bring in a hip hop artist to keep up to date with the lingo," said Schneider. The performance then moves into a poetry lesson, teaching symbolism in rap form and using poetry to illustrate that symbolism. With dynamic staging and a quick tempo, Roots of Rap encourages students to write and learn.

The show is a sneaky English lesson, teaching students about point of view, meter and rhyme and dialect. Through teaching about the structure of poems, the poetry and raps recited also hold lessons of history and culture. The poetry used in the show includes All is Loud, a pigmy rhyme, Sangaree, a slave song, We Wear the Mask by Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Weary Blues by Langston Hughes.

An African-American invention, rap is a new literary style that has emerged from the same musical heritage that created jazz. Rapping takes the poetic literary style and combines it with an African root.

The Interborough Repertory Theater is an award winning, non-profit, company that produces a wide range of theater for diverse audiences.

They will perform at 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. CMEE is located at 376 Bridgehampton/Sag Harbor Turnpike.

- Lauren Isenberg

Back to Contents