TEDxNavesink Announces Open Mic Audition Winners
Four Jersey Residents Will Join May 20 Lineup at May 20 Event At The Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park
TEDxNavesink has announced four participants from its Open Mic Auditions, held Jan 20 at the iconic Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, will be a part its annual TED Talks event on May 20.
They are:
- Eric Burdge of Rumson [at right], who delivered talked about his off the beaten path road to becoming a master craftsman in “Blood, Sweat and Sawdust”
- Alexandra Lewis [below right], 14-year-old Rumson Day School poet from Tinton Falls who delivered the reality of diversity [or lack of] via “Peace, Love and Equality”
- Jenan Matari of Hoboken, who proclaimed in her “Embracing Your Identities” talk – “I’m a woman, I’m Muslim, I’m an Arab, I’m Latina and American, and also a writer, all things people are not so fond of today. It feels like I’ve become some kind of walking political identity, I can’t tell you who I am without the conversation turning political.”
- And, singer-songwriter Avery Rose Puryear of Fair Haven [shown in feature photo] who sang of the effects the bad choices her friends made left in “Inhaling Can Go Wrong.”
The four were chosen from the a pool of over 50 applicants and 20 Open Mic Audition participants who vied for one of the coveted spots in what has become one of the largest TEDx Conferences on the East Coast. Winners were selected from a combination of audience votes and organizers’ evaluations.
Four its Fifth edition TEDxNavesink organizers opted to move the annual event [previously in Two River Theatre in Red Bank and Monmouth University in Long Branch] to Asbury Park’s Paramount Theatre on the cusp of the summer season. This year, the 30 roster lineup will examine all aspects of Identity: authenticity, America, brain science, brand, communications, cyber, design, DNA, education, entertainment, fakery, freedom, gravitas, gender, genomics, intelligence, transhumanism, and Jersey.
“We were blown away by the talent of everyone who performed at the Open Mic,” said Mary Rawlinson, TEDxNavesink chief of staff. “These four individuals stood out to us as the best talent to share their ideas on identity at our event in May.”
More than 200 people filled the Paramount Theatre stage to see the auditions, held in partnership with the Asbury Park Boardwalk. Performances focused on a variety of topics, including gender, ethnicity, psychology, and education via poetry, song and storytelling.
“I’m super excited to be confirmed as a speaker for the TEDxNavesink talk about identity,” Matari [below right] said in 
a written statement. “Seeing as my identity has been something I’ve struggled to fully understand throughout my life, and I’m now in a place where I must defend it, I am honored to be given this platform in order to help the audience relate to other people like myself and to develop compassion for those who are different than us. Hopefully, I’ll even be able to help others embrace their own identities with my talk.”
TEDxNavesink brings thought-provoking talks, art and entertainment to Monmouth County, mixing local, national, and global themes and talent, organizers said. This year, the event will featured talks from former Governor Jim McGreevey, founder of the Gender & Family Project Jean Malpas, bestselling author and former Silicon Valley CEO Patty Azzarello, and neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berlin.
Founded in 2012, TEDxNavesink is a self-organized event dedicated to education, community, innovation, and “ideas worth spreading,” according to organizers. Each year, a different theme is chosen to build the day of nonfiction theater. Business and nonprofit leaders, artists, and students from local universities plan, manage and fund the all-day event.
An Open Rehearsal will be held 7:30 p.m. March 2 at the Paramount Theatre bringing a behind the scenes look into how speakers prepare for the main event. Three TED Talks speakers and their works in progress will be featured with development comments from assigned coaches. Doors will open at 6:30pm and the show run until 9 p.m. with a cash bar. For tickets, visit https://tedxnavesinkidentityopenrehearsal.eventbrite.com
TEDxNavesink will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 20. To purchase $40 tickets, visit www.tedxnavesink.com.
[Feature photo courtesy of Avery Rose Puryear]
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