An audio video production of a play by Lisa Schlesinger
Produced and edited by Lisa DiFranza
Audio engineered by Ben Schmidt
A note from playwright Lisa Schlesinger:
"At the end of his life, Paul Engle was working on a
memoir called Paul Engle Country which, he specifies, wasn’t in
chronological order. I imagine that this is because as a poet,
Paul Engle conceived of the world in images, and moments of
meaning connected by associative imagination rather than
chronological time.
When I began to research Leaner than Light, I was
interested in Hualing Nieh and Paul Engle’s mutual love and
their dedication to world literature. I was also interested in how
they created a place for voices that otherwise would not be heard
and a community where they would be welcomed. Not a
dramatic thing, really but miraculous and heroic. When I first
envisioned this play, I saw spaces opening for IWP writers to
walk through. One person I spoke with said Paul Engle sacrificed
his career for the work of others. I’m not sure I agree. Perhaps
he made a beautiful and successful career of it.
I was also interested in paying homage to Iowa, a place
often referred to as the middle of nowhere, but a place that has
hosted, nurtured and cultivated countless literary voices and
works, both local and global. One of the great moments I had
researching this play was sitting with Hualing in her house
overlooking the Iowa River, eating dried mango and sharing our
love of Iowa. People don’t understand, she said, how many
writers come here, nowhere else could you gather so many
writers in one place. From a literary standpoint, Iowa is far form
the middle of nowhere. And yes, it’s the writers who come; but it
is also the Iowa landscape and people that welcome them.
I am thrilled that we are able to share this internet
audio/visual adaptation of the stage play, Leaner than Light,
which received its first public staged reading in the wake of the
Iowa flood in the October of 2008 and its staged premier in
October of 2009. I hope viewers are able to get a sense of the
staged production, but more, to get insight into Paul Engle’s life
and his amazing gift to Iowa and to world literature."
There are six Paul Engle's poems featured in this streaming version of the play:
American Child I
Heritage
Divination
Question
Dedication
These are the Things
The Leaner Than Light Program (PDF)