Local creatives are collaborating on a one-night multi-genre show celebrating the "heart breakers, breath takers, and fate makers" of our lives.

"Defibrillator" will weave stories, music, poetry, and art exploring love in all its unique shapes and influences on our lives.

The show will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7 at Murfreesboro Little Theatre. Doors open at 6:30. Donations accepted at the door will benefit Murfreesboro Little Theatre and Poetry in the Boro. 

Features include poetry by Kory Wells, inaugural Poet Laureate of Murfreesboro and founder of Poetry in the Boro; stories from community creatives Gary Parker, Jamie Leigh Stevens and Tony Woodall; and spoken word by Kara Kemp, storyteller and Ringmaster of Tangerine Salon and Spa.

The evening’s performances will be woven together with the musical stylings of Tara Syester along with Stephen Burnette, Peyton McCarthy, and Kelsey Wells. Visual creations by Delaney Fitzhugh will also be featured.

Reservations are encouraged by emailing karajkemp(at)gmail.com.

The show is being produced by Kemp and Wells.

Kara Kemp is a Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native with three decades working in visual and performing arts. A founding member of The Actors Co-op and Black Box Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee and attending Anne Bogart's SITI Company summer intensive workshop in Saratoga Springs, New York to expand her approach to site-specific, collaborative performance and layering storytelling in her art. 

Kemp has also performed and produced United We Style, which is in its fifth year of weaving hairstylists, music and stories about our community as a fundraiser for The United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties, as well as "The Ghostly Gathering" evening of storytelling and music alongside Kory Wells in October 2018.

Wells is author of Heaven Was the Moon, poetry from March Street Press. Her writing appears in print and online publications both nationally and abroad, including Christian Science Monitor, James Dickey Review, Ruminate, and The Southern Poetry Anthology. 

She is the principal founder of Poetry in the Boro, a monthly reading series, open mic and community. In 2017 was selected the inaugural poet laureate of Murfreesboro, where she’s lived most of her life. She’s also a mentor with MTSU Write and a founding officer of the new Rutherford Arts Alliance.