Happy Halloween! More October Poe Events

The Lyceum, Alexandria, Virginia
Friday, October 30 - 8:00 p.m. & Saturday, October 31 - 8:00 p.m.
703-838-4994
Click here for more information.

Orpheum Performing Arts Centre, Ltd., Wichita, Kansas
Saturday, November 7 - 7:30 p.m.
316-261-8590
http://www.neabigread.org/communities/?community_id=1285
For more information, please visit http://www.davidkeltz.com or call 410-669-6582.

Harry Lee Poe Event October 30th

What better way to spend the eve of Halloween than taking in a discussion by none other than our very own Professor Poe?

What: A riveting approach to Poe, cosmology, the universe and imagination!
Where: West Hill Cemetery
When: Tour begins at 6:00p.m., talk begins at 7:30 p.m.
Why: Poe understood the noumenal world, and now you can too!

More information here...

Edgar Allan Poe Funeral Services

From Jeff Jerome, curator of the Baltimore Poe House:

Greetings Poe Fans,

This is to notify you that the events surrounding Poe's Funeral will begin on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 with the public viewing of Poe's body at the Poe House, 203 North Amity Street, Baltimore, Maryland from noon to 11 P.M. Viewing times for family and invited friends will be from 9 A.M. until noon (Open coffin).

The Baltimore Poe House will be closed on Thursday, October 8, 2009.

A candlelight vigil will be held at Poe's Grave from midnight to 7 A.M. on Thursday, October 8, 2009. During the vigil, people will be able to offer their own tribute to Poe at timed intervals. The tributes can be spoken, sung or performed (subject to prior approval).

On Sunday, October 11, 2009 Poe's Funeral will take place at the Westminster Hall, Fayette and Greene Streets in downtown Baltimore.

Poe's coffin will be brought to Westminster Hall from the Poe House in a horse drawn antique hearse by police escort for the first service only. Departure time and procession route will be announced.

Due to the expected demand there will be two services. The first service will be at 12:30 P.M. and the second one at 4:30 P.M. (Closed coffin)

Each service will feature eulogies given by people who knew Poe, were related to Poe or had some association with him. In addition there will be legacies, people who claimed to have been inspired by Poe to create their own literature such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Baudelaire, Jules Verne and others. As of this date we are awaiting confirmation from 7 living people who expressed a desire to give a eulogy to Poe. These are people in the literary, theatrical and movie professions.

I am also pleased to announce that John Astin will officiate at both services.

Musical selections including the 1889 Johnson pipe organ will be offered throughout the service.

The burial service will be private at the request of the family. No exceptions.

Ticket forms will be available through the website and it will be the same format as ordering tickets for the Poe Birthday Celebration. Don't delay in ordering tickets. Once they are gone, they are gone!

So far 2009 has been a memorable year for celebrating the Poe Bicentennial in Baltimore. Not only has the Poe House and Museum celebrated this event but other museums and historic sites in Baltimore have been doing the same. As an example, the National Museum of Dentistry is presenting "Berenice," featuring Tony Tsendeas, at the museum in September. What a better place to present Poe's gruesome tale of premature burial, grave desecration, mutilation and obsession with teeth then at a DENTAL MUSEUM!! The performance will feature actual dental instruments that were used in the 1840's to forcibly remove teeth. Looking at these instruments of torture is enough to give anyone goosebumps!

The public mailing will go out sometime in mid to late August. However, I'm going to make every effort to notify you, loyal Poe fans, in advance so you'll have first crack at ordering tickets. Seating will be limited to 300 seats.

Please keep visiting our website for updates in the program.
Please keep visiting our website for updates in the program.
This event is sponsored by the Baltimore City Department of Planning, The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum and the City of Baltimore.
Thank you for being loyal Poe fans and supporting the many Poe events that we've put on for you throughout the years and especially the 2009 events.

Cordially,
Jeff Jerome
Curator, Poe House and Museum

www.poebicentennial.com

www.nevermore2009.com

Partial list of speakers:

The Reverend Rufus Griswold (literary acquaintance)
Sarah Helen Whitman (former fiancée)
George Lippard (devoted Philadelphia friend)
George Rex Graham (Editor)
Nathanial Parker Willis (loyal friend)
Dr. John Moran (Poe's Physician at the time of his death)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (poetess)
Charles Baudelaire (French writer)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (English writer)
Tell Tale Heart Narrator (lunatic)
Col. J.T.L. Preston (Virginia Military College)

Awaiting confirmation:

Alfred Hitchcock
H. P. Lovecraft
Jules Verne
Nielson Poe

It All Helps-- Donate to the PSA!

Dear members of the PSA,


Just last week, I was told by the head of the Rare Book Department (who is sponsoring the opening reception) at the Free Library that the state of PA has mandated that they be open until 9 on Thursday nights instead of 6. This, of course, now presents us with the problem of finding another venue for the conference reception.

I will be taking a look at 4 venues tomorrow, one of which is the Academy of the Fine Arts, a beautiful old building ("Since its founding in 1805, PAFA has been committed to fostering and collecting American art. Scholars have deemed PAFA's one of the world's three best collections of American art for its depth, breadth, and quality.") This could prove to be an exquisite site for our opening reception, redolent with Poe's vibrations (if you allow me a cliched description...). Of course, the site would not be free, as was the venue at the Free Library.



This is why I am writing: if your institution, your friends or one or more of the organizations you belong to could find a way to donate to our conference, this would be the most crucial time to do so.

Please look at our sponsors page and envision your institution, organization, or yourself (!) in one of the categories. http://www2.lv.psu.edu/PSA/Conference2009/sponsors.html

If you find that you are able to donate, please contact me at bac7@psu.edu or Paul Jones at jonesp2@ohio.edu.

We are so grateful to those who have already donated, and we hope that this email may spark others to join this list.

with due appreciation, Barbara

Theatre Event During PSA Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009

POE’S BODY EXHUMED FROM BALTIMORE CEMETERY

AND RETURNED TO PHILADELPHIA IN BRAT PRODUCTIONS’ HAUNTED POE

World premiere of this theatrical amusement coincides with bicentennial of Poe’s birth

“In each room, around every corner, another scare awaits.”

PHILADELPHIA – During this the 200^th anniversary year of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth, Brat Productions will unearth the images, characters and scenes from works by the master of the macabre for the world premiere of Haunted Poe, a theatrical production uniting literature, history and theater with the haunted attraction genre.

A 10,000 square foot warehouse will be transformed into an eerie maze of chambers into which audiences will be guided through short vignettes designed to surprise and shock in unexpected ways. “In each room, around every corner, another scare awaits,” said Producing Artistic Director Michael Alltop.

The 11 featured tales include “The Tell-tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Black Cat,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” written by Poe in Philadelphia, between 1838-1844.

Haunted Poe will run October 1 – November 1, 2009 at 38 Jackson Street in Philadelphia. Timed tickets, ranging from $10 - $25, will be available at www.hauntedpoe.org beginning July 1. [A full performance schedule and ticket details follow in the fact sheet below.] The performance dates will coincide with the Third International Edgar Allan Poe Conference: The Bicentennial, scheduled for October 8-10 at the Hyatt Regency at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. -MORE-

Haunted Poe begins with the premise that the author's remains have been exhumed from Westminster Cemetery in Baltimore and brought to Philadelphia for the anniversary of his death (October 7, 1849). With Poe’s return to the place of some of his greatest literary achievements, he is brought back to life to guide us through his imagination.

Alltop, who conceived the work, went on to say, “Audiences will witness a plot being hatched by a madman; see a corpse take on life as shrieks erupt from under shaking floorboards; peek through holes in the wall to spy on unspeakable crimes; navigate their way through tunnels lined with skeletons; and look in vain for an escape as the walls of a room close in on them.”

A team of talented Philadelphia artists has been assembled for Haunted Poe: award-winning director/actor/playwright Madi Distefano, founder of Brat Productions in 1996, shapes this theatrical amusement; playwright Bruce Walsh adapts his keen sense of writing for alternative venues for the script; Brad Helm, former designer and technical director for Eastern State Penitentiary’s Terror Behind the Walls, oversees production elements, including sound, video, lighting, costumes, special effects, masks, puppets, blood and gore; and “Philly Poe Guy” Edward Pettit provides literary and historical context.

Haunted Poe is a theatrical project that differs from other haunted attractions. There will be no roaring chainsaws or pulsing lights, no reliance on sonic blasts or hydraulic monsters. Although modern technology will be used in the production, the costumes, props and scenic elements will be period-correct, with chills derived from the psychological thrills that are the hallmark of Poe’s work. His catalog of terror – phobias, insanity, nightmares, haunted houses, torture, premature burial, murder, dismemberment, ghosts and the undead – will be ever-present.

Brat Production’s Haunted Poe has been funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative with additional support from the Marketing Innovation Program.

About Brat Productions

Founded in 1996, Brat Productions is a theatre company that produces both contemporary work and re-envisioned classics with emerging artists in non-traditional venues. Over the years, Brat has established itself as Philadelphia’s premier avant-garde theatre, and is known for using unusual performance venues to enhance original and noteworthy productions. Its mission is to generate new theatre-goers by creating theatre that is unpredictable, courageous, and compelling. Brat values risk, innovation, and fostering the growth of artists in the greater Philadelphia region. Its numerous productions have included Three Chord Fiction, winner of the Ted and Stevie Wolf Barrymore Award for New Approaches to Collaboration, A 24-Hour The Bald Soprano, and A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant and Eye-95: Retarred.

# # # # # #

FACT SHEET

BRAT PRODUCTIONS

HAUNTED POE

PRODUCTION TEAM

Michael Alltop: Producing Artistic Director

Madi Distefano: Stage Director

Bruce Walsh: Playwright

Brad Helm: Designer and Technical Director

Edward Pettit: Poe Advisor

PERFORMANCE DATES

Thursday, October 1, 7:00–10:00 p.m. (preview)

Friday, October 2, 7:00–10:00 p.m. (preview)

Saturday, October 3, 7:00–10:00 p.m. (preview)

Sunday, October 4, 7:00–10:00 p.m. (preview)

Wednesday, October 7 – OPENING NIGHT EVENT

Thursday, October 8, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Friday, October 9, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 10, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 11, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 15, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Friday, October 16, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 17, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 18, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Wednesday, October 21, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 22, 7:00–10:00 p.m.

Friday, October 23, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 24, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 25, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 27, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Wednesday, October 28, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 29, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Friday, October 30, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 31, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

Sunday, November 1, 7:00–11:00 p.m.

LOCATION

38 Jackson Street

Philadelphia, Pennsylavania (convenient to I-95)

TICKET PRICES

Ticket prices range from $10 for previews to a $25 VIP “fast-track” option. Timed tickets will be sold and a new group of spectators will enter the haunt approximately every 5 minutes. It will take approximately 45 minutes to experience Haunted Poe.

PUBLIC CONTACT INFORMATION

For tickets: www.hauntedpoe.org

For additional information: 215-627-2577