Tonight the Scribe Video Center (4212 Chestnut St.) will host a screening and discussion of two fascinating multimedia pieces documenting the economic downturn in the United States over the last three years. In Verse combines poetry, photography and audio footage to document the lives of people living on the economic edge.

In the piece “Women of Troy,” poet Susan B.A. Somers-Willett, photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally and radio journalist Lu Olkowski (who will be at tonight’s screening) document the lives of young, working-class mothers in Troy, New York, which was a thriving city during the industrial revolutions but is now enmeshed in poverty.

The second piece, “Congregation,” Pulitzer Prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey , photographer Joshua Cogan and radio journalist Olkowski document the ongoing recovery in Gulfport, Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina.

The screening begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, $8 for students and seniors and $5 for Scribe members.

Below is an exerpt of “Women of Troy”

In Verse: Women of Troy from InVerse on Vimeo.