In I and You, handsome, athletic Anthony arrives unexpectedly at Caroline's door bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and an urgent assignment from their English teacher due the next day. Anthony convinces Caroline to help him transform his presentation on Whitman into something beautiful, and in the process they uncover the profound mystery that has actually brought them together.
Whitman’s poetry acts as a bridge for these two teens to cross in order to understand one another. As Vermont Stage rehearses I and You we will be celebrating the creativity of our young people with a poetry competition. Presented with two prompts, Vermont Stage and Young Writers Project are asking youths to express themselves through poetry. Writers may choose between the following two prompts:
- Write a poem that includes this line from Walt Whitman: “I believe in you my soul.”
- Interview/talk to someone who is different from you, in any way, and write a poem about the experience without identifying the person. What did you learn? What was interesting and surprising?
Submissions for this competition will be accepted March 11–31, 2016. Poems can be submitted at http://youngwritersproject.org/iandyou, where the professional support staff will provide feedback to the writers to develop the submission and to help the poem and the writer grow. The winning submission will be published in the I and You program, and the top three poets will receive a pair of tickets to see Vermont Stage’s production of I and You.
I and You runs from April 20–May 8, 2016 at FlynnSpace.
Young Writers Project is a nonprofit dedicated to helping youths find confidence and voice by developing strong writing and digital media skills. Contact: Geoff Gevalt, Executive Director, at [email protected]; 802.324.9537.