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! is a touring event that 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 from various backgrounds and ages 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. In collaboration with institutional partners and living poets across the globe, WoW! activates us in our communities toward freedom.

WoW! is designed to work in partnership with libraries, museums, community groups, writers groups, theaters, universities, and educators, bringing stakeholders to the table to create opportunities to collaborate, write, read, perform, and hold contextual conversations.

The films include performances by David Patrick Kelly, Juliana Francis Kelly, Michael Potts, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Steven Skybell, Trazana Beverley, Carl Hancock Rux, Christina Robinson, John Douglas Thompson, Peter Gerety, and Linda Powell. The films feature original music composed and performed by Colin Jacobsen (violin), Kyle Sanna (guitar), Eric Jacobsen (cello), and Alex Sopp (flute).

Each poem performed during the WoW! tours were included in the WoW! 2022 Anthology. This first volume includes poems from poets across the globe. Future WoW! poems will make up Volume 2 slated to be published December 2024. To purchase these books, please please write to info@colombari.org.

Whitman on Walls (WoW!) Tour Dates:

October 26, 2024 - St. John's University, Queens, NYC

September 25-29, 2024 - Santa Fe, NM

May 5, 2024 - Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park Robert Frederick Smith Center, Harlem, NYC
March 25, 2024 - SUNY Stonybrook in Stony Brook, NY

November 16, 2023 - Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

September 29, 2022 - Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, Brooklyn, NYC

September 22, 2022 - The Custom House, Newburyport, MA

September 17, 2022 - Momentum Festival, Toledo, OH

September 16, 2022 - Gaelic Park- Manhattan College, Bronx, NYC

August 20, 2022 - Venice Island Performing Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA

August 18, 2022 - Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY

August 5, 2022 - Congress Square, Portland, Maine

June 7, 2022 - Conway Hall, London, UK

May 28, 2022 - Bolton Museum Art Gallery Bolton, UK