Hip-hop has never been just about rap music. In fact, it has moved far beyond the original "four elements" of MCing, DJing, b-boying/b-girling, and graffiti. Hip-hop has transformed theater, poetry, literature, journalism, performance art, dance, visual arts, photography, graphic design, film, video…the list goes on. Name your genre, and I can probably tell you how hip-hop has changed it. Hip-hop is one of the big ideas of this generation, a grand expression of our collective creative powers.
-Jeff Chang, author of "Total Chaos"
"At first blush a Shakespeare festival doing hip-hop may sound absurd... but I think there's a real connection between theatrical movements that are about celebrating language and combining slang with elevated poetic forms. Shakespeare grabbed vernacular from the street."
-Bill Rauch, OSF artistic director
In order to explore the intersection of nexthetics (the term for hip-hop and spoken word aesthetics created at 2003 Ford Foundation Future Aesthetics conference) and classical theatre the Oregon Shakespeare Festival brings together expert practitioners and connects with community based performers. We hold educational lectures and workshops, program nexthetics based performers in the Green Show, and sponsor spoken word events.
We also produce yearly intensives such as Hip-hop Boot Camp (2007) and Mixing Texts (2008, 2009) where we devise original work, workshop scripts, hold round table discussions, and present the work of guest artists.
Listen to an interview with associate producer Claudia Alick about nexthetics and hip-hop theatre. Find out more about Claudia Alick.