WHITMAN ON WALLS! (WoW!) is a hybrid project juxtaposing film and live performance in response to New York poet Walt Whitman’s radical “Song of Myself.” Devised by Compagnia de’ Colombari Director Karin Coonrod in response to performance cancellations in 2020, Colombari’s original production of MORE OR LESS I AM, based on Whitman’s iconic poem, was transformed into seven short films featuring 50 performers from around the world.
WoW! unites communities and their local poets and musicians with Colombari performers on film; a movie screening meets a poetry slam. Each film is followed by responses from local poets who “talk back to Whitman” in their own words, challenging or quarreling with him, blending cinema and live recitation and expanding the Whitmanic vision of democratic interdependence.
This event is presented in collaboration with Santa Fe Pro Musica.
Colin Jacobsen, Stephen Redfield violin
Yuko Shimokawa viola
James Holland cello
Jesse Tatum flute
Gregg Koyle percussion