TEEN ANGST

It’s a website. It’s a comedy night. It’s a book. It’s a solo show….. It’s Teen Angst!

THE SHOW - TeenAngst.ca

Somewhere in the back of your closet gathering dust and turning yellow with age is comedic gold. Those old journals, poems, and essays you wrote as a teenager when you thought you could do no wrong, would probably make you cringe at your former feelings if you were to read them today. Now, imagine sharing them in front of an audience. That’s exactly what happens at Teen Angst.

Teen Angst: A Celebration of Inadvertently Hilarious Adolescent Writing, is an open mic comedic reading series where everyday people read from their embarrassing old journals, poems, songs, essays (and more). So, get digging through your old notebooks and find some gems!

You can share anything (poetry, songs, letters, journals, diaries, essays, stories, plays, lists, etc) so long as it follows these rules:

1- The work must be your own.
2- You must have written it between the ages of 10-19.
3- It’s best if the work is at least 4 years old.
4- If you cringe while reading it- it’s worth sharing! The more embarrassing the better!

Sara Bynoe has been hosting Teen Angst nights since 2000. She’s the creator of TeenAngstPoetry.com and editor of Teen Angst: A Celebration of REALLY BAD Poetry (St. Martin’s Press, 2005) . She has performed her Teen Angst on TV, radio and at theatre and comedy events across Canada and in LA, Seattle, NYC and in the UK.

THE WEBSITE -  TeenAngstPoetry.com

TeenAngstPoetry.com is a satirical website contributed by people 18 and over who have overcome their angst and are able to laugh at their past. You are highly encouraged to send in your own poetry for the site.

THE SOLO SHOW

Sara Bynoe put together a little solo show of her own awful adolescent writing. The show is called Fuck Off and Die: Tales in Teen Angst Poetry, it’s played at the Toronto Fringe, Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival in Seattle and in Vancouver, and London (Spoken Space, Royal Festival Hall).

Full information is found here: http://www.teenangst.ca/foad

REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

“It’s high time the rhyme-crazy juveniles of the world are celebrated as the poetic prodigies we truly were.” Nylon Magazine

“Teen Angst: A Celebration of REALLY BAD Poetry probably contains some of the very worst poetry in print today.” FFWD, Calgary

“It’s bad. But in a good way of course.” The WestEnder, Vancouver

“A highlight [of the Teen Angst Poetry Night] was the felt board presentation by Sara. The former library worker read an old high school poem based on the Night Before Christmas that told about the gang in her neighborhood, The Flava. Even if you couldn’t see the felt board cutouts of trucks with “the Flava” symbol on them,it was bloody hilarious”- ION magazine

“Who knew bad poetry could be so good. Funny and poignant, but mostly funny.”-Canadian Actor Review

Cleveland Plain Dealer Top 20 Summer Must Reads

New York Library Association’s nominated book for Books of Summer, 2005

One Response to “TEEN ANGST”

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