Playwright, Poet Laureate, Lesbian, Lenelle Moïse Comes to Miami for Tigertail's SpeakOut 2011

Click here to see photos from Lenelle's residency

Haitian-American powerhouse Lenelle Moïse is an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist, composer and nationally touring performance artist based in Northampton, MA. She creates intimate, fiery, politicized, texts about the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality, spirituality, culture and resistance. Her hip-hop bred, jazz-infused delivery is at once conversational and polished. Fueled by the motto “Words rouse worlds,” she regularly presents interactive performances and workshops that empower diverse groups of people to creatively speak up and act for social change. Equipped with an MFA from Smith College, Moïse has been a guest artist at the United Nations, the Culture Project, the Louisiana Superdome, the Omega Institute and dozens of theatres, colleges and conferences across the United States and Canada. Her critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play Expatriate inspired her upcoming second CD The Expatriate Amplification Project

During her residency, Lenelle Moïse will lead workshops for students at Miami-Dade public high schools, hosted by individual Gay Straight Alliances/ Safe Schools South Florida and other groups, and a panel at the Little Haiti Cultural Center. The public high schools involved include Edison Middle, North Miami Senior, Dr. Michael M. Krop and North Miami Beach Senior. Other workshops will take place at the Miami Arts Charter school and Pridelines. SpeakOut workshops train LGBTQ youth in writing and speaking skills within a medium that blends poetry, theater and hip hop culture and also provides opportunities for LGBTQ teens to perform their work.

The youth component of the residency culminates in a SpeakOut Open Mic and Slam for GLBT teens, hosted by Lenelle Moïse at the Miami Beach Regional Library, 227 22nd Street, Miami Beach, on Thursday, January 13. This is an opportunity for teens to read and perform their poetry. There is no charge to attend but each participant must be under 21-years old and material must be gay friendly. No reservations are needed. Those interested in the Open Mic and Slam register at the event between 5:00 and 5:30pm at the Miami Beach Regional Library. For more information on all youth events visit Tigertail on the web at www.tigertail.org or call 305 324 4337.

Finally, Lenelle will read and perform her writings and poetry on Friday, January 14 at 8:00 pm, at Books & Books, Coral Gables. This event is free and open to the general public.

The SpeakOut program and Lenelle Moïse residency is made possible in part by a grant from the GLBT Community Projects Fund at Dade Community Foundation, Greater Miami’s permanent endowment made possible by generous donors since 1967, ES Moore Family Foundation, Miami Dade Public Library, Miami Dade Public Schools, Miami River Inn, Books & Books, Safe Schools of South Florida. Tigertail is a NPN Partner of the National Performance Network (NPNN). This project is made possible in part by support form the NPN Performance Residency Program. Major contributors to the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), the MetLife Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. For more information visit www.npnweb.org.

Tigertail's 2010/2011 Season is made possible by community partners and supporters including the Albion Hotel; Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation; Barefoot Wine & Bubbly; Albion Hotel; Biscayne Times; Books & Books; Bresaro Suites at the Mantell Plaza; Cafeina; The Children's Trust; City of Coral Gables Cultural Arts Program; City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; Consulate General of the Netherlands; Dade Community Foundation; E.S. Moore Family Foundation; Florida Dance Association; Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council; Florida Literary Center; Galeria del Sol; The Galler Group; Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau; MiamiArtzine.com; Miami Salon Group; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Miami-Dade County Public Library; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Miami River Inn; National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, additional funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Ford Foundation and MetLife Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network with major funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria, MetLife Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation; The New Hotel; Pridelines; Publix Super Markets Charities; Rain Organics; Safe Schools South Florida; Rain Vodka Organics; The Law Office of Linda M. Smith; South Arts; Vortex Communications; WDNA & WLRN FM and many individual supporters.