Summoners Ensemble Theatre and the Merchant’s House Museum will mark Pride Month with “Whitman in Love,” a limited-run theatrical experience exploring the intimate poetry of Walt Whitman.
The production, conceived and performed by John Kevin Jones, will run for five performances from June 24 through June 28 in the museum’s garden.
The play draws inspiration from Whitman’s “Live Oak, with Moss,” a sequence of poems written in the 1850s. The verses are widely regarded by scholars as some of the earliest honest expressions of same-sex love in American literature, later incorporated into the “Calamus” section of his seminal work, “Leaves of Grass.”
“Whitman wrote of love in ways that transcended the boundaries of his time,” Jones said. “During Pride Month, we honor him as a queer ancestor — an artist who insisted that love between men was worthy of poetry, dignity, and song.”
Jones is a veteran of the Merchant’s House stage, known for his long-running solo performances of “A Christmas Carol” and “Killing an Evening with Edgar Allan Poe.”
The setting holds historical significance; Whitman was known to frequent Pfaff’s beer cellar, a bohemian gathering place located just blocks from the Merchant’s House at Broadway and Bleecker Street.
Performances are scheduled nightly at 6 p.m. Seating is strictly limited to 40 guests per show, with tickets priced at $65. Organizers noted that wine and light beverages will be served in the garden, and performances will move into the museum’s Greek Revival parlor in the event of rain.
The Merchant’s House Museum, a National Historic Landmark built in 1832, remains the only 19th-century family home in New York City preserved intact. The museum is currently involved in a long-standing effort to protect the structure from neighboring development.
Tickets and additional information are available at merchantshouse.org and summonersensemble.org.
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