Spoken Words keeps the history of the Ritz alive

The lights are dimmed and the microphone is on. The host gets up to share a poem or two until the poets amongst the crowd are ready to proceed.Every first Thursday, the Ritz Theatre and Museum opens its doors to anyone who has something to say, poetically speaking, in a family-oriented atmosphere. The lobby is transformed into an open-mic café so that anyone can get up and share spoken words written on paper or in his or her heart.

The Ritz is celebrating ten years of restored culture and history after its doors were re-opened Sept. 24, 1999. The original Ritz Theatre was opened in 1929 as a theatre in the old Lavilla area of downtown Jacksonville, Fl.

As one of the oldest communities in Jacksonville, Fla., the Ritz Theatre stands in place of the old construction. It once held remains of the old theatre that attracted moviegoers, mainly patrons of the African-American middle-class community. Today, poets of all ages and ethnicities speak up through their thoughts of grief and happiness to preserve the history of the old Lavilla community.

"The original inspiration came from a young man who was a poet and did a play when the Ritz first opened," said Lydia Stewart, the event coordinator at the Ritz Theatre.

"Kenneth Walker said, 'Hey, this is a great place for poetry,'" said Stewart.

Stewart told Walker that if he could find some people to come out and perform then she would allow a poetry night at least once a month.

Derrick Bolton, the host filling in for Allen James on Sept. 3, opened the evening with "Ms. Wright" written for his mother.

"It was the first poem I performed when I first came to the Ritz," said Bolton.

Bolton and James have been hosting together for seven years, tag teaming on the microphone in between poets during Spoken Word night at the Ritz. Bolton said that after two or three months of performing at the Ritz, he was approached by James and was asked to become a co-host.

Aside from a few of the poems that Bolton performed Sept. 3, he took a moment to mention the best part of coming out to perform or listen to the poets perform: "It's free!"

Spoken Word night is not the only event held monthly at the Ritz. There is also a Jazz Jam every first Saturday, and a community favorite, Apollo Night, is held every first Friday, which although it is not free, the tickets are sold at reasonable prices.

Apollo Night at the Ritz is modeled after the well-known Apollo Night of Harlem in New York City. Entertainers and people waiting to be entertained come out to enjoy music, poetry, comedy, or wave the un-wanted entertainers off the stage with the "Sandman" sweeping those performers off-stage.

But before some of the entertainers are exiled from the stage, they all have a chance to rub the stone for good luck. The stone, modeled after the 'Tree of Life' at the Apollo in Harlem, was preserved from the construction of the old Ritz Theatre in the Lavilla community.

"[The old Lavilla area] was once called the 'Harlem of the South,'" said Lydia Stewart, the event coordinator of the Ritz.

"During segregation," said Stewart. "The community was forced [to be inhabited]. It used to be a thriving and prosperous community with black-owned businesses and churches, but integration motivated a void, and [it] became a blighted area."

According to Stewart, new construction sits on the site of the old building welcoming patrons who not only enjoy entertainment, but history as well. Inside the Ritz Theatre is the Lavilla museum holding the history of the old Lavilla area.

The museum is creatively put together as a miniature model of what the old Lavilla community looked like. According to Stewart, all objects were donated by people who wanted to help preserve the history.

Before anyone is taken on a tour through the museum, there is a mini-theatre with robotic models of historic Jacksonville natives, such as James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson who reminisce about their own history before heading to Harlem to pursue their dreams.

Stewart said that when the idea to re-develop the Lavilla community came about, the community itself expressed a desire to have a renovated theatre.

"The black community," said Stewart, "decided we needed a museum to tell the story not told in textbooks.