Patrick Scully: Leaves of Grass Illuminated
Patrick Scully performed a one man show, 'Leaves of Grass Illuminated', about the life and works of Walt Whitman. Whitman is one of America's favorite and most famous poets, and yet so many aspects of his life are unknown. Scully focuses his program on shedding light on Whitman's sexuality, and how that informed his work and played a major role in his life.
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First of all, we hoped that this program would teach patrons something new about Walt Whitman's life and poetry. We knew that this program would open up some controversial topics, so we hoped that this program would increase not only people's interest in poetry and performance art, but also in the societal forces that shape both. We hoped that this program would allow space for a different kind of conversation. We distributed evaluations after each program.
100% of respondents said that this program taught them something new about the life and poetry of Walt Whitman. 100% replied that they enjoyed this program because it helped them to increase their knowledge or better understand this subject matter. 100% said that this program increased their interest in poetry, performance art and the societal forces that shape both. Comments included, 'wow, terrific performance! Bring more like this to the public eye' and, 'important and relevant to Warroad- the discussion afterward was honest, captivating, uncomfortable and eye-opening.'
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