Vernacular spectacular Slanguage talks the talk BY SALLY CRAGIN

Words make up the urban soundtrack for the New York theater troupe Universes. "Every neighborhood has their own slang," explains founding member and South Bronx native Steven Sapp. "Where you’re from, you learn the English language and the slang on the street."

New York-based Universes — which includes Sapp and co-founders Mildred Ruiz and Gamal Abdel Chasten along with new members Marlyn Matias and Ninja — brings Slanguage, its well-received original performance piece, to the Boston Center for the Arts, courtesy of Company One, beginning July 21. Talking to me on his cellphone as he motors along FDR Drive ("If I say, ‘Hold on,’ I have to stop talking because I’m driving and that’s a ticket"), Sapp explains that the lingo in Slanguage isn’t Ebonics and isn’t easy to categorize: "It’s like clothing that’s in style for a little while and then it’s gone." The piece, he adds, "is theater that keeps constantly moving. It’s not a poet standing there delivering poetry. We can do five-part harmony — we rarely stand still. There’s movement, music, dance, straight acting. It’s storytelling — we’re in that line of tradition, the poets like Amiri Baraka."

Directed by Jo Bonney (Eric Bogosian’s wife), Slanguage debuted in 2001 and has since toured the country. Although by its very nature it must keep evolving, at the core, says Sapp, "It’s telling old stories to new people." And every generation has its own slanguage. "When my mother was growing up, it was ‘What up?’, ‘Give me some skin,’ some hip talk, Lord Buckley. It all melds and molds."

But words that once ruled (i.e., were silk-screened on T-shirts or provided titles for sit-coms) will linger. " ‘Chillin’ is a word that’s been around for a long time that isn’t as popular. But we still use it." And life in the city is one continuous research opportunity. "Every time I walk on the street or on the train, my ears tune in." His latest find is ‘beastin’,’ as in "Why you beastin’?" — "Why you acting crazy?" He heard it from teenagers. "The young ones keep it moving and keep it evolving."

Universes draws inspiration from disparate spoken-word sources including Lord Buckley, the Nuyorican poetry slam scene, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, and, well, someone you might not expect. "Dr. Seuss is an amazing poet and writes in amazing pentameter," Sapp exults. "One of our members took The Butter Battle Book and reimagined it in terms of East Coast and West Coast hip-hop. It’s not all just yo-yo-yo-yo-yo-yo for an hour and a half."

Slanguage | Company One at the Boston Center for the Arts’ BCA Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | July 21–August 13 | $19.50-$35 | 617.933.8600 | www.bostontheaterscene.org or www.companyone.org