Calendar

Join us for an evening of performance in ASL (American Sign Language)! City of Asylum presents ASL Slam in collaboration with Mj Shahen, our inaugural ASL Poet Laureate of Allegheny County.

During this evening of poetry and storytelling, we invite Deaf and hearing audience members to enjoy creative free expression in ASL and celebrate the culmination of Mj’s term as ASL Poet Laureate. 

 

Artists will perform short pieces in ASL, first without voice interpretation and then again with voice interpretation, followed by audience Q&A. 

“Deaf people are not disabled or impaired; we are a linguistic minority. ASL poetry is a visual literary form that has evolved from the art of sign language storytelling. It is signed performance poetry using the conventions of repetition, rhythm, and meter to construct linguistic patterns that add emphasis, meaning, and structure to word forms.”

–Mj Shahen

ASL interpretation will be provided at the registration counter and during the performance and audience Q&A. 

*Note: There are two ways to watch the program: in-person at our venue Alphabet City or live-streamed online.

 

Covid-19 policies for indoor programs [at Alphabet City] 

• To keep our audience safe, we will require proof of vaccination (physical card or photo) to attend all events at Alphabet City.
• There will be special accommodations for children under 12 and people with medical conditions or religious beliefs preventing them from being vaccinated. These audience members will be asked to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of the performance start time, or a negative COVID-19 antigen test taken within 6 hours of the performance start time.
• All guests will be required to wear masks.
• Audience size will be limited to 60% total capacity

 

City of Asylum’s project All Pittsburghers are Poets is supported in part by the taxpayers of Allegheny County through a RADical ImPAct grant.