[NEohioPAL] Poe Play at Library

[Mark Dawidziak]

Largely Literary Theater Company

 Returns with /The Tell-Tale Play,/

/ /Poems and Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

    The Largely Literary Theater Company will be staging /The Tell-Tale 
Play, /a two-act collection of poems and stories by Edgar Allan Poe, at 
the Louis Stokes Auditorium of the Cleveland Public Library at 2 p.m. 
Sunday, Oct. 7.
    The free performance is being staged on the anniversary of Poe's 
death. The main branch f the library is located at the corner of East 
6th and Superior Avenue.
    Arranged and directed by Mark Dawidziak, the production is designed 
for high school students and older. This is the third year for the 
Largely Literary play, which filled the Akron-Summit County Public 
Library's Main Auditorium. to capacity.

Three popular area actors -- Tom Stephan, Sara Showman and Alex J. Nine 
-- interpret Poe's works, telling the audience along the way about the 
writer's short but eventful life and career. Perhaps best known for its 
acclaimed three-person version of Charles Dickens' /A Christmas Carol, 
/the Largely Literary Theater Company specializes in faithful 
adaptations of great literary works. Its dual mission is to promote 
interest in literature and live theater.

            Three of Poe's classic short stories are presented in /The 
Tell-Tale Play/: "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado" and 
"The Masque of the Red Death." Also included are three of his major 
poems: "The Raven," "Annabel Lee" and "The Bells." Other poems in the 
play are "Alone," "Eldorado," "Dreamland" and "Spirits of the Dead."

            The set for the Largely Literary Theater Company production 
is relatively simple. The lights go up on three lecterns -- one covered 
in rich velvety material -- arranged before a succession of black curtains.

There are three chairs set behind the lecterns, with assorted pillars, 
candelabra and gothic set pieces establishing the mood. The three actors 
enter, dressed in period costumes, acknowledge each other, open their 
scripts, then Showman steps forward, stopping down stage and center, to 
welcome the audience.

Before the first offering, Stephan's interpretation of "The Tell-Tale 
Heart," the three actors take a moment or two to tell the audience about 
"Poe's brief, brilliant and tortured life." Born in Boston on January 
19, 1809, Poe "spent only 40 years on this planet," yet he "found the 
time to create the detective story and write a couple dozen of the most 
influential horror stories ever put to paper."

The popular image of Poe is that of a doomed genius, and the stereotype, 
we learn, certainly has its roots in reality. But the collected works of 
Poe span seventeen volumes and include not only poems, terror tales and 
mystery stories, but satire, essays, literary criticism and comic pieces.

            /The Tell-Tale Play, /however, celebrates Poe as the master 
of the macabre, making it an ideal Halloween theater treat.

            The Largely Literary Theater Company was founded by 
Dawidziak and Showman in late 2001. In addition to /A Christmas Carol 
/(now in its sixth year)/ /and /The Tell-Tale Play, /the company's 
repertoire includes a /A Stevenson Treasury /(a two-act production 
featuring Robert Louis Stevenson's /A Child's Garden of Verses /and "The 
Bottle Imp") and a two-act collection of Mark Twain sketches, /The 
Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated./

            Dawidziak, the company's artistic director, is the TV critic 
at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. His nine published books include a novel, 
/Grave Secrets, /and such non-fiction works as /Mark My Words: Mark 
Twain on Writing, The Columbo Phile: A Casebook, The Barter Theatre 
Story: Love Made Visible, The Night Stalker Companion /and /Horton 
Foote's The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain./

/            /For bookings, contact Dawidziak and Showman at the Largely 
Literary Theater Company: 330-923-8350 or at hlgrouch at sbcglobal.net 
<mailto:hlgrouch at megsinet.net>

 

*COMPANY BIOS for /The Tell-Tale Play/*

            *Alex J. Nine* has acted or directed at most of the theaters 
in the greater Akron area. An Akron native, he is a Kenmore High School 
and University of Akron graduate. Some of his favorite roles are Freddie 
in /Noises Off/ at Hudson Players, Brick in /Cat on a Hot Tin Roof/ at 
Weathervane Playhouse and Hamlet at Coach House Theatre (for which he 
won his first of four Royal Coach Awards). Other notable roles include 
include Oberon, Lysander and Demetrius in /A Midsummer Night's Dream/, 
Master Ford in /The Merry Wives of Windsor/, Leonard Vole in /Witness 
for the Prosecution/, William Blore in /Ten Little Indians/, John 
Proctor in /The Crucible/, Shep Henderson in /Bell, Book and Candle/, 
Joe Pendleton in /Heaven Can Wait/ and Willum Cubbert in /The Nerd/. He 
directed Neil Simon's /Broadway Bound /at Coach House, where he has 
appeared in eleven shows, including /Chapter Two, Crimes of the Heart, 6 
Rms Riv Vu, Private Lives /and /The Real Thing. /He is currently a 
member of the Stow Players' Production Committee and he directed another 
Neil Simon comedy, /The Sunshine Boys/, at Stow this year. For four 
years, he was a member of the Board of Trustees for Tree City Players in 
Kent, serving as vice president for three of those years. During those 
years, he directed seven shows for the company, ranging from 
Shakespeare's /Love's Labours Lost/ to William Saroyan's /Hello, Out 
There!/ and Eileen Moushey's /My Fatal Valentine/. His directing credits 
also include /The Odd Couple/ and /The Foreigner/ at North Canton 
Playhouse and /Communicating Doors/ at Hudson Players. He recently 
played several roles in /The Reports of My Death Are Greatly 
Exaggerated, /the Largely Literary Theater Company's two-act adaptation 
of sketches by Mark Twain.

             *Sara Showman* has appeared in many productions in Ohio 
since moving to the Akron area in 1983. She has worked with professional 
companies, as well as college, children's and community theaters. She 
has appeared at Kent State, Weathervane, Coach House Theatre, the Beck 
Center for the Performing Arts, the Canton Players Guild, Porthouse 
Theatre Company, the Working Theater and Actors Summit Theater. An 
Equity membership candidate, she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree 
in acting and directing from Kent State University. Favorite roles 
include Bella in /Lost in Yonkers/, Melissa in /Love Letters/, Clara in 
/I'm Not Rappaport/ and Shirley in /Shirley Valentine/. She also has 
appeared in four Shakespeare productions at Stan Hywet. Before moving to 
Ohio, she appeared in several productions for theater companies in her 
native Tennessee, including /Another Part of the Forest/, /A Little 
Night Music/, /A Streetcar Named Desire/, /Ten Little Indians/ and 
/Inherit the Wind. /She is the co-founder and managing director of the 
Largely Literary Theater Company, playing 15 roles in /A Christmas 
Carol/ and six roles in /The Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated./

              *Tom Stephan* combined his acting avocation with his 
vocational pursuits for 31 years before he retired from English and 
drama teaching at Stow-Munroe Falls High School. He was recognized as a 
"child star" at the age of seven when he first appeared onstage in 
Canton, Ohio, but it was actually at the age of 21 when he began 
teaching school that the drama bug bit once more. He started with a 
supporting role in a Stow Players production, and has now been seen in 
over 70 major productions in the greater Akron-Canton area, including 
the Weathervane Playhouse, Coach House Theater, Goodyear Theater, the 
old Bath Players, and the Players Guild of Canton. He has won three Best 
Actor and one Best Supporting Actor Awards from the Weathervane 
Playhouse, and was honored by the State Department of Education for 
implementation of a middle school program called "Drama in the 
Classroom." For 15 years he has either succumbed as murder victim or 
triumphed as scoundrel in numerous "Mysteries by Moushey," audience 
interactive murder mysteries, in the Akron/Cleveland/Canton area. 
Several years ago he branched out into radio and TV , serving as 
spokesman and voice-over talent for commercial and industrial work. As a 
retired teacher, he intends to pursue acting, voice work, radio-TV, 
commercial work, and all other performance ventures that look both 
interesting and lucrative. This will be his sixth year playing Ebenezer 
Scrooge in the Largely Literary Theater Company's three-person 
adaptation of /A Christmas Carol. / 

 

 

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