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As part of “Poe Fest” cosponsored with Blackout Theatre Company, The Duke City Repertory Theatre is presenting “Poe,” an intriguing, if at times frenetic, entertainment written and directed by John Hardy. This mixture of recitation and movement includes dramatizations of two Edgar Allan Poe short stories – a genre that Poe helped to define in America – surrounded by historical information narrated by six actors.
The actors are similarly dressed in trousers, dress shirts, vests, and neck scarves by costume designer Gwen Edwards. They take turns playing the characters and delivering the narratives, while almost always in motion.
We learn of Poe’s early life, marked as it is by abandonment and death of those he loves. Poe’s weakness for alcohol and gambling are paralleled in the first short story staged, “William Wilson” (1839).
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If you go WHAT: “Poe” by John Hardy. WHERE: The Filling Station, 1024 Fourth Street SW. WHEN: Today at 2 p.m. HOW MUCH: $20 general, $12 seniors, students, and military, $5 children; call 797-7081. |
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“William Wilson” is a willful character (note the “wills” in the name) whose journey to debauchery and degradation is challenged by another William Wilson, a projection of his other, better self. Both are doomed.
Director Hardy eschews realism, casting Ezra Colón as William and Frank Taylor Green as his doppelgänger, though they look nothing alike. He also adds a scene to Poe’s narrative.
The second adapted story is the Gothic classic “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843). The narrator defends his sanity while describing the murder and dismemberment of the old man whom he serves. He maintains that hypersensitive hearing allows him to hear the beating heart of the dead man buried beneath his chair and thus confesses his crime. Lauren Myers plays the narrator and Green the old man. Throughout the play, Stephanie Grilo, Amelia Ampuero, and Katie Becker perform many roles.
The staging is imaginative and the players strong. This is a rare opportunity to see a dramatist direct his own play.
— This article appeared on page F6 of the Albuquerque Journal
