(Posted December 4, 2004)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam challenges us to view the world in different ways. It also grabs our emotions and doesn't let go. Call it "spoken word" if you wish, but it's relevant theater too.

Simmons and co-producer Stan Lathan have provided the stage, but nine poets and one DJ fill it with words and music that cover a vast array of subjects with integrity, righteous anger, humor and love. Tennessee Performing Arts Center deserves praise as well for bringing this illuminating production to Nashville.

Def Poetry Jam had a Tony Award-winning turn on Broadway in 2002 and a TV series on HBO. The national tour includes a mix of performers from the original production and recent additions to the ensemble.

The poets are a diverse group of American voices, with backgrounds that include cities from Los Angeles to Atlanta to New York as well as every hue of the human rainbow. This is no melting pot, though, but a spicy stew that doesn't promise it's easy to eat.

It is completely nourishing to those who choose to try it, though. That's because the poets fill us with their highly individual perspectives.

Black Ice gives us outrage about the internal and external forces that combine to crush many American black men; Staceyann Chin forcefully points out the foolishness of defining people by racial and sexual labels; Georgia Me implores black women to live with dignity instead of debasing themselves; Lemon questions those who don't give others a second chance. Combine these with Poetri's humor, Suheir Hammad's compassion, Flaco Navaja's savvy, Ishle Park's insight and Shihan's satire, and you have more than poetry. In the sometimes pointed, sometimes profane, but always poignant words of this show, you have speech that truly sets you free.

The poets are the show's creative core, but the disc jockey that accompanies them is a powerful force in the show too. DJ Reborn gets the show started well and literally keeps the beat throughout by spinning a turntable that mixes current hip-hop with R&B, funk and other forms of American musical expression.

Bruce Ryan's urbanesque set of large doors and stoops, and Paul Tazewell's casually defined costumes, give Def Poetry Jam the right look. Yael Lubetzky's subtle lighting and Elton P. Halley's pulsating sound give it the right feel.

To borrow from Lemon, you'll be in rhythmless void if you don't believe these poets have something to say that's worth hearing. And if you think theater is just about a plot dressed up in a set, then you've closed your mind to the possibilities that spoken word presentations like Def Poetry Jam hold for theater now and in the future.