By Sam Klugen
Directed by Jon Ciccarelli
In the Schools program
The final scheduled show 2004 saw another entry into our first annual in the schools program but this time not Shakespeare. One of the more popular curriculum entries are the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, especially his short stories. "The Gruesome, Gory and Grotesque Tales of Edgar Allen Poe" is a one hour treatment on 4 of Poe's short stories with many references to other works. This was presented to both school and general audiences and perfect for the Halloween season. All photos taken at Kenilworth Public Library.
Performance Locations
St. Mary's High School - October 14, 2004
Kenilworth Public Library - October 15, 2004
Plot synopsis:
Edgar Allan Poe, his wife, Virginia and his editor, Griswold are frozen in time, endlessly repeating the moment of Virginia's death. Annie and Owen, two contemporary teenagers, enter the condemned building haunted by the trio and get locked in the room where they are unable to see the specters. Annie, with the help of Edgar and Virginia, starts looking for a lost letter Griswold hid from Poe, which keeps Edgar and Virginia apart. Frightened at first, Owen soon joins the search, motivated by the money the letter might bring. Meanwhile, Griswold watches the proceedings, comfortable in the knowledge that the letter he has hidden will never be found. As the day breaks the wreckers come to destroy the building, Annie and Owen are released from the room; as they leave, Annie takes an oval portrait of Virginia, from which falls the lost letter, uniting the spirits of Poe and Virginia and condemning Griswold to a fiery eternity. The play skillfully interweaves three of Poe's best known stories. "The Black Cat," "The Tell-tale Heart" and "The Purloined Letter" with comedy, fantasy and mystery.
Cast
Jason Shuemacker Edgar Allan Poe
Devin Moriarity Virginia Poe
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To see other 2004 Extended Picture Pages Click here
Above, in an abandoned attic room in upstate New York, the ghosts of Edgar Allan Poe (Jason Schumacker), his wife Virginia (Devin Moriarity) and their captor and Poe's old Publisher Griswold (Jonathan Brown). Poe and his wife continue to repeart the events of her death while Griswold remains conscience of the passage of time. Poe stays in limbo becasue his wife died not telling him she loved him. A letter written by Virginia before her death remains hidden in the room and who's location is only known to Griswold.
Virginia Poe's (Devin Moriarity) spectral repetition is interrupted by the arrival of two teenagers. Annie (Alicia Caracaccio), a descendent of maid to Virginia, breaks into the building looking for the legendary love letter and Owen (Michael McGuire) who follows Annie to bother her and make fun of her quest.
After Annie and Owen are trapped in the room, they pass the night retelling Poe's stories. As each sequence starts the ghost act out scenes fromteh stories. Above, Griswold (Jonathan Brown) and Virginia (Devin Moriarity) act out the servant and one eyed old man from "The Tell-Tale Heart".
Above, the servant (Jonathan Brown), driven mad by the old man's eye, goes mad and kills his master. Following Poe's story he dismantles the body and buries the limbs in the floor boards. All seems quiet except for an incessant beating heartbeat that is continually heard by the servant and only the servant. The beating grows so loud he eventually confesses to the murder.
