Talkback Set for John Kevin Jones' WHITMAN IN LOVE This Month

Bestselling author and Caldecott Award–winning illustrator Brian Selznick and NYU professor and President of the Walt Whitman Initiative Karen Karbiener are set to lead a post-show talkback for Whitman in Love - Live Oak, with Moss & Other poems, conceived and performed by John Kevin Jones (A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House). Jones performs four shows only, Wednesday, June 21 – Saturday, June 24, at the landmark 1832 Merchant’s House (29 E. 4th St, Manhattan).

Selznick and Karbiener, who collaborated on the book of newly discovered Walt Whitman poetry Live Oak, with Moss, will appear following Friday, June 23 at 7PM performance.

Celebrate the timeless poetry of Walt Whitman with John Kevin Jones' tribute, Whitman in Love - Live Oak, with Moss & Other poems. Jones, best known for his performances over the last 10 years in A Christmas Carol at the 1832 Merchant’s House (29 E. 4th St, Manhattan), invites you to a summer garden party. Surrounded by nature we'll raise our glasses to the unrivaled legacy of “America’s Poet,” for four performances only, June 21-24, in the Merchant House Museum’s charming garden.

Half a century following Whitman’s 1892 passing, a secret notebook was discovered containing an early 12-poem series titled "Live Oak, with Moss" which had been heavily revised and incorporated into his later opus “Leaves of Grass.” Performed by Jones, the original series of unrevised poems reveals Whitman’s intimate emotions and his deep vulnerability as he daringly traces a searing romantic relationship with another man. This poem cycle confirms Whitman as a queer icon of his time, and Whitman in Love honors this hidden legacy of “America’s poet.”

Walt Whitman’s life in New York City brought him frequently to the neighborhood of the Merchant’s House. Whitman took nightly refuge at the bohemian Pfaff’s beer cellar, on Broadway at Bleecker Street, where he met his love Fred Vaughan, who inspired some of Whitman’s most romantic verse.

Tickets are priced $75 for all performances and are on sale at EVENTBRITE. Seating is strictly limited to 40 per performance. Wine and light beverages will be offered in the garden. In case of rain the performance will move indoors to the grand Greek-Revival parlor.

The production’s performance schedule is:

• Wednesday, June 21 at 7PM
• Thursday, June 22 at 7PM
• Friday, June 23 at 7PM – followed by a post-show talkback with Brian Selznick and Karen Karbiener
• Saturday, June 24 at 7PM

For more information, please visit www.merchantshouse.org/whitman

John Kevin Jones. Kevin is a member of Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and the Dramatists Guild of America. New York: A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House, Killing an Evening with Edgar Allen Poe (Summoners Ensemble), Nothing But Trash (TFTNC), Jeffrey (Lincoln Center), The Winter’s Tale and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Hipgnosis Theatre). Regional: The Pavilion (American Stage), Othello (Arkansas Rep), The Rivals, All My Sons (Kentucky Rep), Angels in America, Gross Indecency (Playhouse on the Square). BA in Theatre Performance from the University of South Florida and MFA in Theatre Directing from the University of Memphis.

MERCHANT’S HOUSE MUSEUM. Built in 1832, the Merchant’s House is New York City’s only 19th century family home preserved virtually intact, with original family furnishings and personal belongings. A unique survivor of Old New York, the House offers an intimate glimpse of how a prosperous merchant family and their Irish servants lived from 1835-1865, when New York City grew from seaport to thriving metropolis.

 

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