Details on 5/18 Poetry Reading

Friday May 18,  7 pm  Coffee Chicago, 5256 N. Broadway Ave.

(Broadway and Berwyn)

There is no charge for this performance

John Starrs

performs work from Carl Sandburg

Jehan Whittaker

performs  works from Susan Lori-Parks, Sojourner Truth, and Adrienne Kennedy

John Starrs

John Starrs is an actor and poet who has done readings of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman for Schools and Libraries and at the Chicago Cultural Center and an earlier Labor Arts Festival. He  has written a book of poetry called The Suburban Poems published as an Art Book and as a paperback. As an actor, he recently played King Duncan in a production of Macbeth that he also directed for the 18th annual Rhino Fest.

John Starrs is a member of Depaul’s School for New Learning Visiting Faculty and teaches Theater and Poetry.

He hosts the weekly open mic venue at Coffee Chicago on Friday nights.

Jehan Whittaker

Jehan Whittaker  received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from Point Park  University and studied theatre and women’s issues in 12 countries with the University of Pittsburgh’s Semester at Sea program. While living in Chicago and Pittsburgh she has worked as, among many things, an actor, teacher, dramaturg, and Artist-in-Residence.  She has also volunteered with Chicago Cares, Vets4Vets (an outreach to Iraq War Veterans) and Pittsburgh Playback Theatre.  She currently serves as the Director of Youth and Educational programming for the Estrojam Music and Culture Festival.

For the past five years Jehan has done youth programming with various organizations throughout Illinois and Pennsylvania teaching students how to use the arts to push for social, economic, and political change. She will soon be leaving Chicago to work as an Adolescent Support Specialist for Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania where she will use the Experiential Learning Theory to help the Springboard Academy students perform at their peak potential.