Canada’s best slam poets sling metaphors and match wits in four-minute and one-minute rounds. These Day One bouts at Havana Theatre are two of eight preliminary competitions that take place on Thursday and Friday nights here and at Cafe Deux Soleils during Verses Festival. The scores from these eight bouts determine the twelve poets who move on to compete in the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship (CIPS) final match on Saturday night.
All poetry performances on the stage are judged by volunteer audience members. That’s what make this poetry game so great. Which means we need you!
(Bouts 1 and 3 take place at Cafe Deux Soleils down the street at the same time as these bouts at Havana Theatre)
BOUT 2 / Doors 6 pm / Show 6:30 pm / Havana Theatre
BOUT 4 / Doors 8 pm / Show 8:30 pm / Havana Theatre
Note the 6:30 start. Doors at 6. Get there early!
Advance tickets for this night (both bouts included) are available for $8 on Brown Paper Tickets here.
Or $10 at the door, cash only.
Admission to this event is included in your Verses Festival Pass but get there early to get a seat!
Verses 2018 Early Bird Passes are available at Brown Paper Tickets here until April 10.
BOUT 2: (order of draw only; order on stage drawn before bout on Thursday)
Kathleen Driscoll
Lindsey Olver
D’Scribe the Poet
John Chamelion
Andrew Jack Livsey
Leslie Stark
Frankie McGee
Ashley Laframboise
Nolan (NoNo Ryan) Janssen
BOUT 4: (order of draw only; order on stage drawn before bout on Thursday)
Siling Zhang
Optimus Rhyme
Slamapalooza Rep
Victoria Inglis
Julia Pileggi
Pam Stewart
Rosalie Fralick
Poetik with a Silent K
Michelle Hillyard
Accessibility Info for Havana Vancouver:
The Havana Restaurant and Theatre is approached on a short path bordered by metal gating with a clearance of 85” / 216 cm. Entry is served by one set of very heavy, equally sized double doors which swing out. One of these doors is usually propped open by the restaurant, leaving a clearance of 31.5” / 80 cm. Exterior handle pulls the door at 41.5” / 105 cm from the ground. The threshold is a slope-sided doorsill .5 “ / .75 cm high.
Proceeding through the space requires passage through an archway 52.5” / 134 cm across. A broad interior hall narrows at the bar to a clearance of 51” / 130 cm, though if a person is seated at the bar this space is reduced to approximately 34.5” / 88 cm.
There are two gendered washrooms in a left-hand hallway. The archway to access the hallway measures 46.5” / 117.5 cm across. The first wheelchair-accessible washroom, marked “Damas” / Ladies is approached first, served by a right-handed pull handle at 38” / 96.5 cm from the floor. The second wheelchair-accessible washroom, marked “Caballeros” / Gentlemen is served by a left-handed pull handle at 38.5” / 97.75 cm from the floor.
First wheelchair-accessible washroom is gendered and marked “Damas” / Ladies. Door clearance is 33.75” / 85.5 cm. The sink is located in a communal space and there are two stalls.
Sink:
- Counter height: 31” / 78.75 cm
- Counter clearance: 26” / 66 cm
- Sink height: 35” / 89 cm
- Sink tap is sensor-operated and requires a reach of 14” / 35.5 cm to activate
First (wheelchair-accessible) stall:
- Area: 56” / 142.5 cm x 56” / 142.5 cm
- Stall door clearance: 31” / 79 cm
- Door lock height: 40” / 102 cm
- Toilet height: 17.75” / 45 cm
- Grab bar mounted on wall left side of toilet: [measurement missing]
- Distance left side of toilet to wall: 9.25” / 23.5 cm obstructed by toilet paper dispenser narrowing the clearance to 5” / 12.5 cm and by disposal unit narrowing the clearance to 6” / 15.25 cm
- Distance right side of toilet to wall: 32.25” / 82 cm interrupted by child care table 5” / 12.5 cm thick, mounted on wall behind door
- Toilet paper dispenser: 21” / 53.5 cm from floor
- Change table open height: 31” / 78.75 cm from floor
Second stall:
- Area: 55” / 139.5 cm x 35: / 89 cm
- Stall door clearance: 21” / 53.25 cm
- Door lock height: 40” / 102 cm
- Toilet height: 17.5” / 44.5 cm
- Distance left side of toilet to wall: [measurement missing] obstructed by disposal unit narrowing the clearance to 10.5” / 26.5 cm and by toilet paper dispenser to 9.5” / 24 cm
- Distance right side of toilet to wall: 6.5” / 16.5 cm
- Toilet paper dispenser: [measurement missing]
Second wheelchair-accessible washroom is gendered and marked “Caballeros” / Gentlemen. Door clearance is 33.5” / 85 cm. The sink is located in a communal space and there is one wheelchair-accessible stall and one urinal.
Sink:
- Counter height: 30.5” / 77.5 cm
- Counter clearance: 27” / 68.5 cm
- Sink height: 35” / 89 cm
- Sink tap is sensor-operated and requires a reach of 12” / 30.5 cm to activate
Urinal:
- Urinal height: 23” / 58.5 to top rim of urinal bowl
- Flusher is sensor-operated and has a manual push-button activator at 56.5” / 143.5 cm
Wheelchair-accessible stall:
- Area: 82” / 208.5 cm x 65.5” / 166 cm
- Stall door clearance: 31” / 79 cm
- Door lock height: 40” / 102 cm with a pull-handle mounted on the inside of the door at 39” / 99 cm from the floor
- Toilet height: 18” / 45.5 cm
- Grab bar mounted on wall left side of toilet: [measurement missing]
- Distance left side of toilet to wall: 10.5” / 26.5 cm obstructed by toilet paper dispenser narrowing the clearance to 7” / 17.75 cm
- Distance right side of toilet to wall: 62” / 157.5 cm
- Toilet paper dispenser: [measurement missing]
- Change table open height: 33” / 83.75 cm
Passage to the theatre space is located to the right after the bar. Clearance from a half-wall separating a restaurant seating area to a weight-bearing post is 65” / 165 cm. Two doors separated by a short hallway lead to the interior of the theatre. The first door pushes to enter and has a clearance of 33” / 84 cm. To exit, a right-handed pull handle is mounted 38” / 97 cm from the floor. The hallway measures 60” / 152.5 cm across. The second door pushes to enter and has a clearance of 33” / 84 cm. To exit, a left-handed pull handle is mounted 37.5” / 95.5 cm from the floor. Once inside this door, free space is again impeded by a weight-bearing post allowing clearance of 57.75” / 147 cm.