Chicago, slam, poetry, Tennessee, Mary Fons, workshops, performer

“Tennessee” Mary Fons (an Iowa native) has been writing and performing her poetry and other solo works around the country for the better part of 5 years. She has been the featured performer in over 30 poetry slam venues, including New York City, (Bowery Poetry Club/Urbana) Berkeley, (Berzerkely) Kalamazoo, Minneapolis, Boston, (Can-Tab) Seattle, (Seattle Poetry Slam) Austin and Vancouver, Canada (Vancouver Slam.)

In 2003 she performed her poetry with the Joffrey Ballet and can be heard on the CD accompaniment to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Slam Poetry (AlphaBooks, 2004.) Tennessee was recently published in the College of St. Mary’s literary magazine MARY. Other publication credits include poems selected for Talking Kitchen and LocusPoint. Mary has been known to step in as guest host of the original Uptown Poetry Slam at the Green Mill in Chicago when Marc Smith is out of town and has performed her way across Chicago, from the Museum of Contemporary Art to the stage at Estrogen Fest, from the smallest open mic night to the Apollo Theatre.

Mary won a spot on the Green Mill team at the National Poetry Slam in 2003 and represented Chicago again in 2005 as a member of the Mental Graffiti-Wicker Park team. Mary is the Poetry Coordinator of Chicago’s 20+ year-old Bucktown Arts Fest and was hired by the City of Chicago in 2005 to perform with a group of which she is an original ensemble member—the popular Speak'Easy Ensemble, 5 poets who currently pack houses in Chicago with a new poetry show every month.

Mary has performed for and workshopped with hundreds of young adults through her work in Illinois high schools, on her own and in collaboration with the Speak'Easy Ensemble. In 2006, Mary has hosted bouts for Young Chicago Authors' teen poetry slam "Louder Than a Bomb" and was one of the original hosts of "LIP," The Poetry Center of Chicago's monthly reading series.

Her solo work has been featured in Live Bait Theatre’s Filet of Solo Festival, The Dollar Store Show, Lip (at the Neofuturarium), The Chicago Improv Festival, and in the 2006 and 2007 Drinking & Writing Festival. In Febuary of 2007, Mary hosted the Poetry Center of Chicago's "No Love For Love Show" with special guest Ira Glass.

Mary is an original ensemble member of Chicago’s critically acclaimed Gift Theatre Company and is the newest ensemble member of Chicago's performance art pride and joy: The Neo-Futurists.

And she's just getting started.


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