Slamming With the Optimist

The Optimist Theatre will be hosting a sonnet . . . slam . . . to benefit Shakespeare In the Park on Monday May 7^th at Transfer Pizzeria Café. The Sound And Fury Sonnet Slam starts at 8pm and run until . . . whenever.

Tickets for the show are $25. Readers slated to perform on the evening include James Pickering, Tom Reed and Andrew Voss. Sounds like fun. There will be time for attendees to sign-up and perform as well. Sonnets don’t need to be memorized and they don’t have to be Shakespearian sonnets . . .

Sounds like a lot of fun. I do wish people wouldn’t use the term “slam” to denote any kind of poetry reading. A slam is a competition. Scores are given out. Prizes are awarded. (I suppose I should just get over itthe slam competition has been on the wane for many, many years. All these years later and I still miss the slams at the Y-Not II . . . ) There’s no mention of competition in the press release so I can only assume that it’s a very hip reading with some professional actors performing amidst everyone else. In any case, it’s an opportunity to have a good time at a nice place and raise some money for Shakespeare In The Park.

Ticket reservations can be made online.

For more information, visit Optimist online.

And I would be thoughtlessly forgetting a few good friends if I didn't also mention that Monday May 7th and EVERY Monday night there's far less expensive live poetry at Linneman's Riverwest Inn. Open mic starts at 8pm. A featured reader performs every week. Having been staged every Monday night for about 20 years, Poet's Monday is one of Milwaukee's longest standing poetry traditions. The show is hosted by Timothy Kloss--easily the single best sonneteer in town.