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Chicago Slam Works is crossing borders with a new bilingual show, “In Any Tongue” (Sat 7/21, 8 PM, Vittum Theatre, 1012 N. Noble, chicagoslamworks.com). Three slam poetry teams, two German and one American, will perform together simultaneously in German and English. The concept originated last year during CSW’s celebration of slam poetry’s 25th birthday, when Chicago’s Speak’Easy Ensemble performed a short set with Frankfurt’s Word Alert.
J.W. Basilo: The pieces are going to be presented as multivoice, multilingual poems all at once. So it’s a really big undertaking—not only to get effect and meaning, but also to make the words really pop and make both poems work in both languages at the same time. We’re working really hard so that the words and the language weave in and out of each other, to make it as engaging as possible for the audience.
