May 10–16, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 11
Stephen Bateman
No holds bard: Theater group Compagnia de’ Colombari will perform
a tribute to Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself,” titled “More or
Less I Am,” at Brooklyn Public Library on May 18 and at Fort Greene
Park on May 26.
Walt country
This musical ‘Song of Myself’
celebrates America’s diversity
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Sing a song of ourselves!
An international theater group will
perform its musical, multilingual take
on Walt Whitman’s classic poem “Song
of Myself” at two Brooklyn events this
month, in celebration of the Bard of Brooklyn’s
200th birthday. The Compagnia de’
Colombari show “More or Less I Am,” at
the Brooklyn Public Library on May 18,
and Fort Greene Park on May 26, aims to
remind audiences of Whitman’s vision of
America, which highlights diverse individuality
and also community spirit, according
to the show’s director.
“Whitman talks about the greatness of
the individual and the community and he
interweaves these two, so there’s a declaration
of interdependence,” said Karin
Coonrod. “It’s important for us to heed
the call that in our birthright was the
coming together of the individual and
the community. He starts the poem with
the pronoun ‘I’ and ends it with the pronoun
Coonrod said she was struck by the
lyricist’s egalitarian approach to America’s
diversity.
“Whitman wrote democracy on the
page by having people next to each other.
The opium eater, the five friendly matrons,
the president, and the guy who’s
a convict,” she said.
During each hour-long show, the group
will recruit a few audience members to
perform parts of the poem, so that Whitman’s
words will ring out through the
voices of different types of people.
The 15 actors will also perform verses
translated into Spanish and Portuguese,
and Coonrod hopes that audience members
can read sections translated into Chinese,
Persian, and other languages. This
section demonstrates that Whitman is
a poet for anyone who wants to build a
home in the New World — a message
that is especially important during a
time of political hostility towards immigrants,
she said.
“This is thinking of him as the poet
laureate of the Americas. Having so much
Spanish in our community, I wanted to
insert some political challenges here,” she
said. “At this time when immigrants are
considered lesser than or there’s a fear of
the other that’s being stoked.”
The show also features classical music,
songs inspired by Whitman’s time,
including a sea shanty, and a few verses
by two modern-day poets, who respond
to the Bard in their own words.
The latter section demonstrates how
the country is still working to make Whitman’s
embrace of differences a reality,
a challenge the poet recognized when
he wrote his famous piece, according
to Coonrod.
“He’d been smelling what was happening
in America with this greed that
was growing. Freedom was being replaced
by greed, and success of smaller
and smaller numbers of people, and I
think that this disturbed him greatly,”
Coonrod said.
Whitman
sampler
Hurray for the birthday bard!
Brooklyn’s beloved poet Walt
Whitman was born on May 31,
1819, but celebrations of his birthday
will happen all month long! If
you want to join the troubadour’s
bicentennial birthday party, here are
two other events four you:
Bard of boats
New York Harbor Channel honors
Whitman’s bicentenniel this
weekend at American Veterans
Memorial Pier in Bay Ridge, with
a recitation of his poem “Crossing
Brooklyn Ferry” and a commemoration
ceremony, followed by a celebration
of those who work in the
harbor today.
11 am–1 pm at the Veterans
Memorial Pier (Bay Ridge Avenue
at the water in Bay Ridge, www.
newyorkharborchannel.com).
Free.
Beard of Brooklyn
The hirsute poet gets his due
at the “Walt Whitman Beard and
Moustache Competition,” which
will recognize beautiful beards in
eight categories, including “The
Barbaric Yawp,” for best natural
moustache.
June 8 at noon at Fort Greene
Park’s Monument Steps (enter at
Myrtle and N. Portland avenues
in Fort Greene, www.bklynlibrary.
org/event-series/whitman-200).
Free.
Overcoming the country’s divisions
remains an uphill battle, but poets like
Whitman offer comfort when we are lost
for words., she said.
“When we don’t know what to say we
just have to go back to poets — who are
our teachers — and spread out the word
with joy,” she said.
“More or Less I Am” at Brooklyn
Public Library 10 Grand Army Plaza at
Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights,
(718) 488–1000, www.bklynlibrary.org.
May 18 at 2:30 p.m. Free.
At Fort Greene Park At the steps
near Myrtle Avenue and St. Edwards
Street in Fort Greene. May 26 at 7:30
p.m. Free.
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