Ebony Readers/Onyx Theater held auditions last Thursday and Friday for their fall show, which will occur in November.
EROT is the oldest spoken word organization at UNC, founded in 1979. Through this collaboration between Ebony Readers and Onyx Theater, individuals put together their creative talents, creating a slam poetry and spoken word team.
Originally started as a historically Black organization, EROT serves as a way for all poets of color to create and express themselves openly, sharing their cultural experiences and perspectives. The club aims to help poets uplift and refine one another’s talent and performance, and create an environment where these artists can thrive.
By showcasing underrepresented stories through art, the poetry EROT performs is able to connect with people on different emotional levels and normalize these stories in general discussion. Performers all individually discuss vulnerabilities to connect and share with their audiences.
“So how do we turn some of these ‘under focused topics’ into what's the common language between different kinds of people,” Sierra Stubbs, treasurer of EROT, said. “It can also vary through personal observations, taking a rather ordinary event and transforming it into something extraordinary.”
EROT provides a unique experience, allowing the performers to share deep parts of themselves by teaching them to navigate their fears.
Last semester, at EROT's annual love show — a Valentine's-day themed show where audience members can buy roses and poems for their loved ones, which are then spoken on stage — Stubbs said that she felt an immense relief sharing her poem because she had worked on it for so long. She said that she felt a connection within the whole theater that was created by her words and the collective experiences of everyone in the theater.
With their poetry, performers gain the ability to influence and open a sense of commonality amongst individuals in the audience.
“I also remind myself that, as much fun as it is to perform poetry and to share it, there is this therapeutic release that happens when you get to get something off of your chest that's dear to you," Melodi Carty, secretary of EROT, said. "So, I try to remind myself that performing is just as much for the audience as it is for me personally."
