Hi everyone,
I have a special treat this week on Poetry from Daily Life. MARY MARGARET HUGHES was the Missouri champion in the Poetry Out Loud contest in 2020 while she was a graduating student from Central High School in Springfield (my alma mater). These days she is an actress in Nashville, Tennessee. I was curious to learn if her involvement with the Poetry Out Loud event had an effect on her life today. What I learned is that poetry is only one part of this creative artist’s multi-channeled artistic outlets. Mary Margaret was happy to tell us about it.
It turns out that her introduction to poetry came early when her mother read Shel Silverstein books to her. She began writing her own poems in middle school. “I went through a yearlong phase,” she says, “where I only wrote very depressing haiku.”
Mary Margaret Hughes has gone on to become a multidisciplinary artist and performer who attended London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts on their Classical Acting Short Course in 2023 and graduated at Belmont University in 2024 with a BFA in Theatre Performance. She has acted in theaters spanning Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and is currently performing as Joan Watson in Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B at St. Croix Festival Theatre. You can follow her work on Instagram @wonderstruck_mm or at marymargarethughes.com.
Look for Mary Margaret’s column in Poetry from Daily Life tomorrow (Saturday) in Springfield News-Leader and on Sunday in the e-edition. I’ll post the link to that late Sunday Morning. Thank you, Mary Margaret!
