Walt Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca, and the bull Photo by Bruce Silcox and Richard Termine

The other queer icon is Federico García Lorca, the early twentieth century Spanish poet and playwright. Lorca wrote the poem "Ode to Walt Whitman" in 1930 during a year-long stay in New York City, which was in part undertaken to get away from Spain and regain his spirt after the poet had been rejected, romantically, by a close friend, the artist Salvador Dali. Unlike Whitman, Lorca was known to be gay. His assassination in 1936 by Republican troops loyal to Franco in the Spanish Civil War was, in part, justified in the official report by citing that he "engaged in homosexual and abnormal practices."

In Bart Buch's theatre work Ode to Walt Whitman, the two writers are represented as puppets, designed by Buch to give both men endearing and open-hearted presence. How does one convey that with a puppet? I cannot truly answer that question except to say, if you have the opportunity, see for yourself and tell me if you don't agree.

The show opens with projected imagery of tall grain grasses fluttering on a broad plain with a vast horizon behind them, bringing to mind Whitman's opus poetry collection, "Leaves of Grass" (which includes "Song of Myself"). This imagery is followed by projections of computer screens on which two parties–who turn out to be Whitman and Lorca–find each other using a match-making app. They exchange messages which are, in fact, lines drawn from the two men's poetry. Lorca's messages are directly taken from his "Ode to Walt Whitman." I was not able to track Whitman's responses well enough to know for sure, but I believe much, if not all, of it is from "Song of Myself."

The two parties meet–at first, merely as human hands, two hands appearing, approaching each other shyly, gradually becoming comfortable with one another, then caressing and moving in balletic gestures, establishing forces of beauty and sensuality passing between them in equal measure. And then, the puppets enter. They take several forms: puppets of about 18 inches in height operated by sticks; finger puppets with each man's head perched atop a puppeteer's finger; and full head masks, fitting over the heads of the puppeteers, whose actual bodies become the body of the character.

Along with Whitman and Lorca, there are puppets of bulls, and in some scenes Lorca appears as a matador, thrashing his red cape about him, sometimes intended to provoke the bulls, sometimes intended to provoke Whitman. As counter to the ferocity of the bulls–though sometimes they are not a bit ferocious–there are butterflies, bringing suggestions of flight and freedom to the fore. Some of the puppets' interactions are very humorous, at other times intimating elements of danger, before playing out once more into expressions of tenderness and affection. The puppetry scenes give way to more projections of dialogue in the online chat-room, pivoting back and forth between text and puppetry. Through all of this, it should be noted that the puppets never speak. Their thoughts only come to us through their actions, and through their text, seen in the chat-room dialogue.

The stage design (by Buch and Duane Tougas) offers different places on which they operate: center stage operated above a counter concealing the puppeteers, in doors and windows that open as needed on both sides of the stage, and in an upstage area that accommodates the full human-size puppets, and a series of windows on the rear stage wall, all allowing for imaginative staging that is constantly surprising.

All of this is accompanied by a musical score, composed and played by Martin Dosh, that uses a mixture of electronic keyboards, xylophones, and other percussive sound to provide a constant pulsation, almost as if a beating heart, with a wildly erratic range of variations but insistent in its presence, is providing the energy to move the narrative.

The puppets are wonderfully designed, and handled with grace by Buch, Ramon Cordes, Seth Eberle, and Masanari Kawahara. They are adorned with costumes designed by Amber Brown, very much in keeping with the historic photos of Whitman and Lorca. George Meyers has designed the lighting which is critical in shifting our focus from one playing area to another, and in expressing the shifting moods withing the piece.

I must admit to being uncertain what meaning to draw from the bulls and bull fighting. Perhaps suggestions of the danger these two men faced in expressing love for other men, but also the elegance and sense of mastery, both inherent in bull fighting. But that's strictly my ringside musing, and the creators of the work may have had something quite different in mind. In any case, it is constantly engaging, and provoking such musings can never be a bad thing.

The puppetry, musical elements, and overall pacing of the performance are well synchronized. The projections of the online chat are an effective way to incorporate the actual words used by Whitman and Lorca to express their passions. The only difficulty with that for me was that, while the text scrolled up, the projections ended abruptly before the last couple of lines had scrolled high enough to be read over the heads of audience members in front of me. Owing to that, I missed a line or two each time, though the feel and intent of the poetry was sufficiently conveyed.

Ode to Walt Whitman was first performed in 2006. This is the sixth time the play has been produced, including a 2009 run at the HERE Arts Center in New York City.

With Whitman being a 19th century figure, Lorca a 20th century figure, and the use of the chat-room motif bringing in the 21st century, the message of the work spans centuries. Ode to Walt Whitman is a tender, witty, and passionate work of praise for love between men–the joining of two individuals both on physical and spiritual planes–and its message can certainly be carried forward to apply to any two individuals regardless of sex or gender identity. The text, both Whitman's and Lorca's, is gripping, and the art of puppetry is beautifully employed, making Ode to Walt Whitman a pleasure to behold.

Ode to Walt Whitman runs through June 8, 2025, at Open Eye Theatre, 506 East 24th Street, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please visit openeyetheatre.org.

Created by: Bart Buch & Company; Bart Buch; Music Composition: Martin Dosh; Puppet Design: Bart Buch; Stage Design: Duane Tougas and Bart Buch; Curtain Design: Rob Gordon; Puppet Costume Design: Amber Brown; Lighting Design: George Meyers; Outside Eyes: Angela Olson; Chat Video: Design: Bart Buch, Paetra Ruddy, and Seth Rowley; Spanish Poetry Translation: Reed Aubin.

Cast: Puppeteers - Bart Buch, Ramon Cordes, Seth Eberle, Masanari Kawahara; Music - Martin Dosh; Voice-Overs - Jim Koplin, Eli Bloch-Garcia.