The Mayhem Poets to slam into Schwab Auditorium

The Mayhem Poets, a group of slam poets formed at Rutgers University, will visit Penn State on Jan. 28.

The three members — Mason Granger, Scott Raven and Mikumari Caiyhe — met at Rutgers and write and perform poetry shows for all ages.

“We do elementary schools where we will do shows for K through 2 with one set of poems, then middle school or high school with another,” Granger said. “We do shows for adults and sort of mixed age shows as well. We perform for everyone — between the three of us, we have a lot of poems.”

The Jan. 28 performance at Schwab Auditorium will include adult language.

While the job of a slam poet may find great creative outlet, it’s not always the easiest career to describe to friends and family.

“I usually just say, ‘uhh… it’s a mix between hip-hop and standup comedy,’ ” Granger said, laughing. “We’ve been doing that full time since 2005, just rolling with that.”

Audiences can expect a wide range of material and emotional appeal from the Mayhem Poets’ performance.

“You know how when you watch (Pixar’s) ‘Up,’ it’s something that kids like for one reason and adults like for a completely different reason but it’s all in the same show? That’s kind of our motto,” Granger said. “Our goal is to perform for an audience of kids and have them walk out of there and say, ‘Whoa, I love poetry, and I want to try to do that’ while simultaneously talking to the adults in the crowd and moving them for a completely different set of reasons. It has to have something for everyone.”

Granger’s affinity for spoken word unexpectedly began in college on a class trip in his freshman year of college.

“One of my classes took a trip to New York and we were going to see a poetry slam. I didn’t know what it was, this was pre-YouTube, so I had no clue,” he said. “The only reason I went was because a girl I had a crush on in the class was going. But, it ended up being this style of poetry, performance poetry. I was immediately just like, ‘I want to do that.’ ”

Then, in the school paper, Granger remembers reading about an open mic called “Verbal Mayhem.”

“From the article, it seemed liked the same kind of thing that was going on in New York; performance poetry open mic right on campus that was supposed to be run by two Rutgers students,” he said. “I started going to that and met the two guys who hosted it and just came back every week.”

In 2006, the trio won a business development grant in the Microsoft Idea Wins Challenge with a video where the poets had fun with alliteration, rhyme, meter play and syllable emphasis to further their vision of popularizing poetry.

In addition to performing with Mayhem Poets, Granger has recently developed an app.

“I think (If I weren’t doing this) I’d probably be an app designer,” he said. “There’s an app for poetry I started working on a few years ago, and that is called ‘SlamFind.’ ” It’s for anyone who likes this style of poetry, slam poetry. They can download the app and watch videos, listen to poems, they can use a map to find the closest poetry venue to them in the country. I really enjoyed the programming. If the Mayhem Poets ceased to be tomorrow, I’d probably focus more on that.”

Granger expects audiences to have a truly unique, unforgettable experience at Schwab Auditiorium on Jan. 28.

“Some things are meant to make you laugh and some are meant to make you cry, if you’re the crying type,” Granger said. “All in all, you’ll feel the full range of human emotions and walk out glad that you did. Even if you watch poetry videos online, our poetry style is different from anything you’ve seen. If you like poetry, it’s your chance to grab someone who maybe doesn’t like poetry and bring them to the show and convert them to poetry fans.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 11:54 AM with the headline "The Mayhem Poets to slam into Schwab Auditorium."