Washburn Review
Washburn University
Volume 140, Issue 19
February 13, 2013
washburnreview.org
Acting off the page: poetry becomes play production Elise Barnett
WASHBURN REVIEW
“Missing You, Metropolis” began as a book of poetry written by Topeka native Gary Jackson and winner of the 2009 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, but the creative and adventurous world depicted in the book couldn’t stay on the page for long. “Tom Averill, Eric McHenry and I had been discussing interdisciplinary projects when Gary Jackson read from his first volume of poetry in the Mabee Library in April 2011,” said director Penny Weiner, who is also a professor in the Washburn theater department. “I was captivated and tickled and once Gary gave us permission to stage his poems, Izzy Wasserstein’s involvement was inevitable. We tinkered with the poems, reading, arranging, identifying speakers and considering the theatrical potential for quite a while.”
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photo by Andrew Escandon, Washburn Review