Spread the Love: Drum Taps – adapted by Lindsay Price from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

This week on Spread the Love we talk about Drum Taps – adapted by Lindsay Price from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Filmed live on location at Old Fort Erie.

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Transcript

Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. We are here at Old Fort Erie and in honour of Veteran’s Day and Remembrance Day we are talking about Drum Taps. Drum Taps is a theatrical adaptation of Walt Whitman’s civil war poems in his larger collection Leaves of Grass. The original Drum Taps poems are a heart felt and often heart breaking first person account of a war time experience and I knew when I first read them that they needed to be staged. I’m really, really proud of this adaptation. It’s theatre, it’s not a poetry recital. It really is a war time experience brought to the stage and I’m thrilled to be able to bring Whitman to life for student performers. Craig what do you love about Drum Taps?

About a year ago I saw some video from a workshop that Lindsay put together when she was working on the play. And I was blown away with what I saw. It was just a workshop so there was no lighting, no costumes, no sets. But, Whitman’s words filled in all the details. His writing is immediate, it’s vivid and it’s timely. It’s amazing material to work with.

That’s it for Spread the Love. Bye Bye.