A Night of Spoken Word Offerings at The Church

Continuing its series of writer’s spoken word and open mic nights, now called WORD, The Church presents the second iteration, “WORD: On Transformation,” on Saturday, July 22, at 6 p.m.

WORD features writers, storytellers, and performers; confirmed writers for July include Reverend Holly Haile Davis, Candace Hill, Pacifique Irankunda, Kristen Santori, and Ella Snow. Reflecting on the program’s theme, Irankunda provided a quote from “Good Prose,” where authors Richard Todd and Tracy Kidder discuss Irankunda’s essays and write, “For the writer, the ultimate reward of memoir may be to produce a work in which the facts are preserved, but the experience transformed.”

When speaking on July’s theme being transformation, the program’s curator, Talena Mascali, states, “We’re inviting writers to engage with the enormous, trepidatious theme of transformation. What I find most interesting is that transformation is ongoing, sometimes imperceptible, sometimes dramatic, and often recognized when change is visible. For me, the underbelly, the heart of the storm, the long road with no end in sight, is where transformation lives. It’s in leaving the comfort of your current self, often with no choice, forced to discover whom you can become.”

The evening will explore the written word in varied forms: poetry, prose, fiction and essays. The WORD series inaugural program in February, “Love Is a Verb,” offered vibrant, wide-ranging readings to a standing-room-only audience. WORD is meant to honor Sag Harbor as a welcoming home for artists, writers, and creatives while celebrating the power and range of the written and spoken word. The reading will be held in The Church’s garden (weather permitting), with café table seats (limited tables available that seat two to four), regular seating, and light refreshments.

Tickets are $25 for a café table seat, $10 regular seating ($15 at the door) at thechurchsagharbor.org. The Church is at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor.