The College of Arts and Sciences and the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University held a poetry performance at 5 p.m. Monday at the Murphy Auditorium in Rockwell Hall. 

The performance was based on the anthology “Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic” published by The Kent State University Press.

A cast of three performers, Eric Schmiedl, director and performer, Faith Roush, 2020 graduate of Kent State and Anne McEvoy shared voices from the pandemic through a collaborative poetical performance.

The production was comprised of 4 interactive parts, “We love,” “We grieve,” “We hope” and “We praise,” in which audience members were asked to type out their thoughts for each section presented by the production operator, Zeke Schmeidl, who also included the attributions for each part of the performance. A community poem of anonymous audience answers called “What we Learned While Alone,” was included at the end.

At the end of the performance, audience members were invited to participate in a talkback where they were welcomed to reflect, share their thoughts on the performance and ask questions.

“I feel like this iteration allows more for the reflection of the human experience,” Ambre Emory-Maier, the movement director of the production, said.

The performance highlighted the real stories of individuals who experienced emotions of anxiety, sadness, loneliness, hope and love throughout the pandemic.

“This just cements how powerful the arts are in illuminating and bringing to light what is,” an anonymous audience member said.

The story of “Dear Vaccine” touched the lives of performers who took part in the demonstration process of the story.

“I lost two important people in my life. One was my aunt and one was a friend of mine who was only 22 years old,” Roush said. “This process has definitely brought a sort of healing.”

According to McEvoy, during the pandemic many of her friends in theater lost their jobs, incomes, and apartments and the story “acknowledges that we all went through something” during that time.  

“Dear Vaccine” features over 2,000 submissions from people throughout all 50 U.S. states and from over 118 different countries.

David Hassler, director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent is an editor of the publication alongside editors Naomi Shihab Nye and Tyler Meier.

Lauren Bischof is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].