Poetry
“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 6 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). Publication credits include poems selected for Talking Kitchen, LocusPoint, and the literary journal of the College Of St. Mary’s and can be heard on the popular poetry streaming audio show “IndieFeed.” Mary has been known to host the original Uptown Poetry Slam at the Green Mill in Chicago when Marc Smith is out of town. (So what!)
Mary represented the Green Mill at the National Poetry Slam in 2003 and represented Chicago again in 2005 as a member of the Mental Graffiti-Wicker Park team. She served for three years as Poetry Coordinator for Chicago’s 20+ year-old Bucktown Arts Fest (2004-2007) and was a founding member of the Speakeasy Ensemble, a performance poetry group currently gigging in and around the Windy City.
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 Speakeasy Ensemble. Mary has worked with Young Chicago Authors, a Chicago non-profit organization, hosting bouts for the teen poetry slam, Louder Than a Bomb. She has also lead poetry programming for the Chicago Park District.
Her poetry has been featured in Live Bait Theatre’s Filet of Solo Festival, The Dollar Store Show, “Lip,” The Chicago Improv Festival, and in the 2006 and 2007 Drinking & Writing Festival.
