Lavender Horizons Events
Be Gay, Do Rhyme!
Lavender Horizons Events is a brand-new Toronto–based queer–focused, community–oriented immersive narrative poetry events initiative created and spearheaded by writer/performer Thaddeus Cramer (he/him) Phew! Lot of compound words in there! Let’s break that down a little!
Brand-New
​Lavender Horizons had the incredible opportunity to host our first ever event: Cerulean Nights: a Narrative Poetry Experience on the Water on October 9th, 2025 on a boat called L’Aube. Due to a wonderful turnout and positive response from attendees, we are already planning our next event!
Queer–focused
That's right! Anyone can enjoy our events, and we highly encourage queer folks and allies alike to come out (heh, come out!) and enjoy the show and support what we're creating. However, this is a queer project, run by a queer (bi transmasc,) creative, and we intend to highlight and centre queer creative talent
and stories at every level of the project whenever possible!
Community-oriented
While this is both a project and a business, one of our core values is community. We don't just want to host spaces, we want to create them! Spaces for people to connect with the art and with one another. Spaces to lift up queer and intersectionally marginalized voices. As it seems like more more queer spaces are disappearing or scaling back, we want to create something unique that serves the community our creator loves so much!
An Immersive Narrative Poetry Events Initiative
Here's where we get into the juicy stuff! Let's start with narrative poetry. Narrative poetry is just a fancy-schmancy way of saying poetry that tells a story. In this case, a series of poems that act as almost a one-man play to tell that story. Think of it a little bit like a musical without the actual music bit. Well, for the most part. That's where the community initiative aspect comes into things! Our goal is for every Lavender Horizons show to feature at least one queer guest creator performer working in a medium other than poetry, with a particular interest in musical talent! Cerulean Nights had two featured artists (in addition to the show's creator and host,) musician, Bia the World’s Smallest Clown, and drag performer, Fox C. Shanty.
Now, for the immersive bit: our goal is to create events that as we like to put it, "break through the space–rhyme continuum." That is to say, more than just stage shows, these events interact with the spaces that they occupy in unique ways and use those spaces as part of their story. For example, Cerulean Nights followed the story of a trans man in the 1800s who runs away from a life as a debutante to become a sailor. Not only did the event take place on a boat, but the narrative was centered around and timed to the stages of the boat's journey and the setting sun. The first poem began on the docks with our hero running away onto the ship, inviting the audience to follow him aboard both the boat, and the show. When he talks about the sunset on the water, the sun is actually setting behind the performance. When he talks about his reflection on the night blackened waters, or a violent storm that breaks out, it is under a darkened sky, and when the story ends with his first shore-leave, it is not long before the real life boat pulls into dock, ending its journey along with the tale. While this level of immersion may not be possible for every location we work with, that is something we prioritize whenever possible. If you own a unique location that you think might be a good fit for these events, please reach out!