WHITMAN ON WALLS! Minneapolis

​In honor of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the iconic poet Walt Whitman's celebration of the American people and their indestructible spirit, New York-based theatre collective Compagnia de' Colombari's film screening meets live performance event, Whitman on Walls! (aka WoW!) continues its journey across the USA, adding Minnesota to the map.

On October 11, 2026 (doors 6pm, show 6:30pm), WoW! comes to Minneapolis, MN, at The Parkway Theater in collaboration with Minnesota Poets Collective, John Munson, Steve Sutherland, and is sponsored by Calamus Project. A live music trio led by Dean Magraw (guitar), with Liz Draper (upright bass) and Suwal Singh (Tabla), will accompany the Minnesota-based poets: Ashley Gray, Mishal Mazin, Suheb Rumi, Timothy Frantzich, Allen Wilcox, Erik Riese, and Christian Worby. The event is FREE and open to the public with an RSVP.

In response to the performance cancellations in 2020, Colombari and Artistic Director Karin Coonrod turned the original stage production of More Or Less I Am into a series of seven short films in 2020 featuring over 50 actors and musicians from around the world performing Walt Whitman's famed poem, "Song of Myself," in its entirety. Whitman on Walls! is a community-galvanizing project that uses these films as prompts for local poets and performers to respond to the themes and Whitman’s words with their own insights and expressions, reflecting their observations of America today. 

Praised as "the greatest American poem ever written" and touted by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed," this quintessentially American poem has been read by generations. Now Minnesota poets and musicians will add their voices to a dialogue with Whitman.

The Minneapolis engagement of Whitman on Walls! is part of a national tour, produced by Compagnia de' Colombari (https://www.colombari.org), whose intent is to present the project in all 50 states, working with local partners and performers in each location.

Bios for Whitman on Walls! Minneapolis, MN: Partners & Poets:

Minnesota Poets Collective (Poet Curator)

Minnesota Poets Collective (MPC) is a Minnesota-based nonprofit publisher that celebrates the art of poetry in all its forms, bringing together diverse voices and perspectives from across the State. MPC ‘s mission is to honor, promote, and cultivate poetry with a connection to the State of Minnesota. The MPC was formed by a family of passionate poetry lovers. Our team is made up of Tom Streitz (Founder), Michele Streitz (Senior Editor), Max Streitz (Managing Editor), Alex Streitz (Contributing Editor and Marketing Director), and Alyssa Burch (Artistic Consultant). We believe that poetry is an exploration of the human condition in its most sacred and pure expression. www.mnpoetscollective.org 

Calamus Project (Sponsor)

In the late 1850s, Walt Whitman wrote Calamus: a sequence of 45 poems about camaraderie, friendship, and love among men, which he included in the 1860 edition of his collected poems, Leaves of Grass. He named the sequence after the calamus plant, or sweet flag, a tall flowering reed that grows at the edges of ponds and other wet places. These beautiful short poems offer a less familiar version of Whitman—more vulnerable and self-critical—and address same-sex relationships well ahead of their time. They pose prophetic questions about love's relationship to democracy. The Calamus Project is a collaboration of many partners dedicated to presenting Whitman’s Calamus poems in an engaging way through films, programs, and its website.  calamusproject.org 

Compagnia de’ Colombari (Producer, Creator of Whitman on Walls! Project & Films)

Compagnia de' Colombari is an international collective of performing artists, generating theater in surprising places for over 20 years under the vision of director Karin Coonrod. Colombari intentionally clashes cultures, traditions and art forms to bring fresh interpretations to the written word. It is founded on the principle that the magic of great theater can happen anywhere and be accessible to everyone. Colombari's 2026/2027 season features unique theatrical adaptations of works by Walt Whitman, Flannery O'Connor, and William Shakespeare. Colombari’s Whitman on Walls! Across the USA, is produced by Cindy Sibilsky, with plans to tour cities in all 50 U.S. states and beyond. colombari.org 

John Munson (Event Co-Curator)

John Munson is a noted Minneapolis bassist and Music Director. Over three decades, he co-founded two of Minneapolis' most beloved rock and roll institutions, Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic, touring the USA and then the world, making first boutique appellations and then chart-topping songs with those two groups. He has produced records over the years for artists such as Lucy Michell and Dylan Hicks, and continued his long partnership with legendary Minneapolis songwriter Matt Wilson when they formed the underappreciated but great The Twilight Hours. Throughout that time, Semisonic continued to perform periodically until now, when they have been releasing new records and finding new life in the rock scene. John was chosen as the music director of Wits, an MPR Events live production and radio broadcast that ran a great series of shows from The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. For over twenty years, Munson has overseen The New Standards Holiday Show with his colleagues Chan Poling and Steve Roehm, along with a robust cast of the best independent musicians in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Steve Sutherland (Event Co-Curator and Media Director)

Steve Sutherland is a Minneapolis-based video and experiential producer, musician, and recording engineer. He has worked within and led creative, digital, and experiential teams at agencies including Crispin Porter + Bogusky, MONO, Periscope, and Fallon, and is a co-partner in Manufacture, a Twin Cities-based video production company. As a drummer, Steve performs with a variety of projects throughout the Twin Cities and Minnesota’s North Shore, having previously recorded and toured with Grant Hart (Nova Mob), The 757s, and Sam I Am.

Live music by Dean Magraw (Guitar and Music Director) with Liz Draper (Upright Bass) and Suwal Singh (Tabla). Dean Magraw is an American guitarist and composer whose “...music transcends, transports and lifts the soul to a higher level as he weaves, cajoles and entices every note from his instrument…Just as important are the silences with which he knits the music…these can only come with being at one with one’s art” (Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Altan). He has been hailed as “…always deeply soulful” by City Pages and Steve Tibbetts: “Dean Magraw…so liquid, lyrical and effortless it’s like listening to a dancer.” deanmagraw.com 

Christian Worby (Poet)

Christian Worby grew up in the UK and moved to Minneapolis (via Japan) 15 years ago. There’s a decent chance you’ve seen him on a stage somewhere around Minneapolis. Christian has been actively involved in the local poetry scene since 2023 and has performed at Poets & Pints, American School of Storytelling, 331 Club, Backslap, Comedy Corner Underground, Acme Comedy Co. and more. He’s had various pieces published in American and British poetry journals, including a piece in Neologism Poetry Journal, which was nominated for Best of the Net 2026. Christian’s favorite piece of Whitman’s verse is Section 6 of “Song of Myself.” 

Ashley Gray (Poet)

Ashley (Ash) Gray is an aspiring poet, a dedicated lifelong learner and a Whitman novice. She

recently discovered a deep affection for the great American poet. Her journey into poetry began a few years after college and quickly possessed her. Ashley writes for herself, but has been eager to hone her craft and to one day share anything half as insightful and honest as Walt. As a 27-year-old resident of the Minneapolis area, she aims to connect with poetry and poets in her community. 

Suheb Rumi (Poet)

Suheb Rumi is a poet and spoken word artist based in Minneapolis. Through his poetry, he explores themes of identity, empathy, and perspective. One highlight of Suheb’s work was performing a piece for Button Poetry.

Allen Wilcox (Poet)

Allen Guy Wilcox was born in Cooperstown, NY, and raised on his family’s dairy farm in the Mohawk Valley. He was educated at Middlebury College and lived in New York City for 15 years before selling back on the farm with his wife, Olga, and their Children, Fiona and Abraham. Since 2016, he has served as the founding artistic director of The Theater at Woodshill, a 501(c)3 theater company, dedicated to classical theater performances and education. On stage, he has performed the Shakespearean roles of Paris, Benedick, Orlando, Hamlet, Oberon, Escalus, Macbeth and Caliban. His poetry has appeared in Nine Mile, Doubly Mad, Pulsebeat, and The Lyric, as well as other outlets. As a film actor, he appears most recently in Michael Walker’s The Legend of Don Jose Mundo, David Arrow’s The Drive, and Stephen Billick’s Intermission. His debut poetry collection, The Red Goose, was published by Doubly Mad Books in July, 2026. 

Mishal Mazin (Poet)

Mishal Mazin is a Minneapolis-based Sri Lankan diaspora poet, artist and co-founder of 3RDHAUS, a third culture-focused publisher and collective. Born in the UAE and raised in Columbo, Sri Lanka, he explores sociology, history, culture and identity through poetry, art and performance. His work ranges from his debut chapbook The Slick Mongoose (2018), where his descriptive style and ability to chronicle daily life in a surreal way are the focus, to the cathartic and cryptic stream of consciousness in Panic & Other Poems (2021). Mazin has performed at TEDx Colombo, Kacha Kacha, the Galle Literary Festival, Goethe Institute and other spaces across Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he lived from 2011 to 2026. He currently resides in Bdeota Othunwe of the Dakota and Gakaabikaang of the Ojibwa, a.k.a. Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Timothy Frantzich (Poet)

Timothy Frantzich had his first 10,000 hours in the marshes on the western edge of the Twin Cities, where he grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s. He majored in poetry and literature at the University of Minnesota. Timothy’s career has balanced Waldorf grades teaching with poetry and music. Timothy has the pleasure of spending a number of years with Robert Bly and his circle around the Twin Cities and beyond. Since 2005, Timothy has taught and presented at one of Robert Bly’s annual poetry conferences, the Great Mother Conference. Timothy is most interested in how simple words—the kind we speak every day—can be arranged into a poem that opens the heart and brings us closer together. 

Erik Riese (Poet)

Erik Reise creates in their seventh decade. Poet, potter, performer and photographer, they are a trained communicator and artist. As a ludic theologian studying play and how it moves through culture, their poems and performances levitate language and community to make momentary meaningful connection.