Poetry Alive!® Vita

Founded: 1984 in Asheville, NC.

Offices: Located in the historic Park Place Building (West) at 70 Woodfin Place in downtown Asheville, NC.

Principals:

Bob Falls:
Bob is founder of Poetry Alive! and originator of the in-service program. He holds both a BS and an MA in History from Virginia Tech at Blacksburg. He has performed and conducted workshops since 1984, and has taught at both the high school and college levels. Bob Falls - click to send email         

Rodney Bowling
BA, MA from the University of Memphis. Rodney has been with Poetry Alive! since 1990. He has performed, conducted workshops, and represented Poetry Alive! at educational conventions throughout the U.S. and abroad. Rodney also edits Poetry Alive!® publications. Prior to coming to Poetry Alive!, he taught extensively in both adult Continuing Education and at the college level.  Rodney Bowling - click to send email         

Complete résumés and references are available upon request.

Background Information:

Since 1984, Poetry Alive! has produced educational performances for student audiences throughout the United States and beyond. Poetry Alive! couples poem performance of curriculum-based literature with both in-class workshops for students and in-service workshops for faculty. A two-person "team" of professional performers conducts both the performances and the workshops. Poetry Alive! has 5 or 6 teams touring throughout the school year depending on the schedule. Team members are college graduates with degrees ranging from Fine Arts to Education. Many are former educators. Student audiences range from kindergarten through the university level. A typical 35-50 minute show includes 20-25 poems tailored to fit the ages and interests of the audience. The poems, memorized and performed theatrically, are found in popular textbooks and anthologies. Our shows change each year and the current year show list is sent out in advance of the visit. Special requests are honored when possible. Adult performances are also available.

Poetry Alive! has been active in providing instructional workshops for national, regional, state and local organizations (and affiliates) such as the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the International Reading Association (IRA), the Core Knowledge Foundation, Teachers Applying Whole Language (TAWL), the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Middle School Association (NMSA) plus numerous Literacy conferences, Arts-in-Education conferences, Black History events, Writers conferences, cultural diversity workshops, library events, arts festivals, etc. Poetry Alive! has performed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, China, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, South Korea, Venezuela and Peru.

Each school year, Poetry Alive! conducts approximately 2500 performances, over 900 classroom followups, and 250 teacher workshops for an estimated 600,000 students nationwide.

Poetry Alive! has also worked with NCTE, ALA, IRA and TAWL groups in states such as Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Saipan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

 

 

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