From New York's hottest showcase for new poets, playwrights, and performers comes a dynamic collection of more than 30 original works of drama--all published here for the first time. All of the pieces--produced at the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe and other off-Broadway venues--offer readers a front-row seat for the best, most interesting theater in America today.

Compiled by poets who have been at the heart of this vibrant and original movement since its earliest days, Aloud! is an inclusive cross section of the most innovative and accomplished word artists from all parts of America.

At once a moving personal memoir and a colorful portrait of life in New York's Lower East Side (Loisaida), this masterly collection of poems captures the whirlwind of sights, sounds, celebrations, and sorrows of urban life.