Join Raclin Murphy Museum of Art for the Pop-Up Chitlin Circuit—a poetic experience unlike any other! Immersive, communal, and joyfully unpredictable, the Pop-Up features Indiana’s own Poet Laureate, Curtis Crisler, alongside two talented local poets. Inspired by the historic Chitlin Circuit—an essential network of performance venues that supported and celebrated African American entertainers during the Jim Crow era—the Pop-Up Indiana Chitlin Circuit brings that same spirit of creativity, pride, and artistic energy to contemporary audiences through poetry.
In this dynamic, collaborative performance, three poets take the stage together, first sharing the mic in an electrifying round-robin exchange. Each poem is chosen in the moment, inspired directly by the piece that came before it, creating an improvisational flow where the poets build on one another’s work in real time. This spontaneous, collaborative set then transitions into shorter solo sets, where each poet reads several of their own works. The entire event concludes with the poets reading a single poem together, line by line. Live musical interludes by the Merrimans’ Play-House Players will segue the program from one set to the next.