MAT "Step 2 the Mic" poetry slam, Jan. 3

I attended the first "Step 2 the Mic" poetry slam of 2013 on Thursday at the Montana Actors' Theater-Great Falls.
Jeff Scolley, the host, performed a new poem, which I thought worked well. It's always nice to hear more about Jeff, and this poem did just that.

The MAT shifted the stage back to the side, which has its strong and weak points. In one way it's a little more open and there's room for more people. On the other hand, it feels less like a theater and more like a conference hall. The space is small no matter how you slice it, so you take the good with the bad.

Last year when the theater had the side set-up, it had several comfy couches for people to sit on. Those were gone. It would've been nice to have the couches back.

The main criticism I'd like to express here, however, comes in the commercial that was aired before the poetry began.

For those of you who weren't at the slam, I'll give a brief description of what happened.

Before the slam started, Jeff mentioned that Gerald Bickel would be here to shoot a short commercial featuring four or five of the improv actors. The commercial's main message was that the MAT could use some more donations. Understandable enough, seeing as everyone who works there are volunteers and it takes money to keep the building functional.

The commercial was mostly entertaining, with the imrov actors doing several warm-up bits that are humorous by nature. I wish, however, that it didn't take as long as it did. We all showed up at 7 ready to read and listen to poetry.

I think most of us can agree that it's difficult in the arts community when it comes to finances. From the MAT to Paris Gibson Square, the Mansfield Center, even the C.M. Russell Museum of Art. They all need financing, some more than others.

The heart of the commercial was asking people to donate to the theater. An idea I can get behind, as I think a lot of people reading this can.

However, when you attract people into the theater for the popular poetry slam, and then put the brakes on to air an unannounced commercial, it feels a little cheap.

I know many people at the theater and have great respect for each one of them. Our community theater is a wonderful place, and I hope they get the funds they need.

I wish, however, that they could have announced plans for a commercial before springing one on unsuspecting audience members. Who knows, maybe they would have even had MORE people show up to help show their support.

Plus, the fact that the creating of said commercial took an hour from doing poetry created some problems for people who budgeted a certain amount of time to be at the slam. Most people stayed the whole time, but several could not.

Once the poetry started, it was just as good as the previous slams have been. There were many more teens than before, perhaps more than the adults even. Quite an accomplishment from the first few slams when there were one or two teens participating.

Finally, if I had one more minor quibble, and it is minor, it would be with the judging.
Judging poetry is an imprecise art. In a small town like Great Falls, it's extremely difficult to find judges who don't appear to have any major biases toward the poets. The slam has done a great job of finding unbiased judges whole heartedly.

And while I don't think the judging on Thursday was "rigged" or that any of the three were biased, from an outsider's perspective it could have looked a bit strange that the final two adult poets were MAT actors and that one of the judges was sitting next to one of the MAT organizers. I can't say if he was related to her or not, but if so, it could look fishy if someone wanted to view it that way.

I do not, however.

 I think the judges did a fine job for the most part, and it never felt like any of them were playing favorites. If I didn't watch the judges make their scores throughout the night, however, I might start to ask questions about why the two actors who were on stage during the pro-MAT commercial they shot that most of the crowd was asking to cheer for, ended up in the final round.

I will say that both Krystine and Casey, two of the final three adult poets, presented strong poems. You could make a valid argument that they both deserved to be in the final round of the adult presentation. Having heard their poems, I would mostly agree.

I hope that in the future, though, that Jeff can continue to make it painfully clear that each judge has no large bias toward anyone in particular. Because if he loses grip of that, the whole legitimacy of the slam could be in jeopardy.

As a supporter of the Great Falls poetry scene and the MAT, I would hate to see that happen.

I, like always, anticipate going to the next slam at the MAT later this month. This, I feel, is a minor blip in an otherwise successful run Jeff and company have had hosting this event.