Sedona Poetry Slam

Showings

Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Oct 10, 2015 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Jan 2, 2016 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Feb 6, 2016 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Feb 4, 2017 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Apr 1, 2017 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Apr 29, 2017 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Dec 30, 2017 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Feb 3, 2018 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Apr 7, 2018 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, May 5, 2018 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, May 26, 2018 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Oct 2, 2021 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Nov 13, 2021 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Jan 15, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Mar 5, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Apr 23, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, May 14, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Sep 17, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Oct 15, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Nov 12, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Dec 10, 2022 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Jan 28, 2023 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Apr 1, 2023 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, May 13, 2023 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Oct 7, 2023 7:30 PM
Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Jan 13 7:30 PM
Film Info
Event Type:Live Event!
Poetry Slam
Run Time:90 minutes (approximately)

Description

The Sedona Poetry Slam presents its 16th year of performance poets bringing high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9.


A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. Anyone can sign up to compete in the slam for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize.


Open Slam
To compete in the slam, poets will need three original poems, each lasting no longer than three minutes. No props, costumes nor musical accompaniment are permitted. The poets are judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.


Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. Poets come from as far away as Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood, college poets from Northern Arizona University and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School.


All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain and inspire the audience with their creativity.


The prize money is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.


Email foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up early to compete or by the Friday before the slam or at the door the day of the slam. Poets who want to compete should purchase a ticket in case the roster is filled before they arrive.


Subsequent slams will be on Saturdays April 13, featuring Briana Grace Hammerstrom of Portland. Ore., by way of Flagstaff, May 11 and finally on June 8.


What is Poetry Slam?

Founded at the Green Mill Tavern in Chicago in 1984 by Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport designed to get people who would otherwise never go to a poetry reading excited about the art form when it becomes a high-energy competition. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.


Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. Slam poets have opened at the Winter Olympics, performed at the White House and at the United Nations General Assembly and were featured on "Russell Simmon's Def Poets" on HBO.


Sedona has sent four-poet teams to represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., Boston, Cambridge, Mass., Oakland, Calif., Decatur, Ga., Denver and Chicago.