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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold";">Largely
Literary
Theater Company<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span
style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold";"><o:p> </o:p>Returns
with <i style="">The Tell-Tale Play,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i style=""><span
style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i><span
style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Copperplate Gothic Bold";">Poems
and
Stories by Edgar Allan Poe<br>
<o:p></o:p></span><br>
The Largely Literary Theater
Company will be staging <i style="">The Tell-Tale
Play, </i>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.<br>
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.<br>
<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"></st1:place></st1:state>
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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">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’ <i style="">A Christmas Carol, </i>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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Three of
Poe’s classic short stories are presented in <i style="">The Tell-Tale
Play</i>: “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.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Boston</st1:city></st1:place>
on <st1:date month="1" day="19" year="1809" w:st="on">January 19, 1809</st1:date>,
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.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><i style="">The
Tell-Tale Play, </i>however, celebrates
Poe as the master of the macabre, making it an ideal Halloween theater
treat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The Largely
Literary Theater Company was founded by Dawidziak and Showman in late
2001. In
addition to <i style="">A Christmas Carol </i>(now in
its sixth year)<i style=""> </i>and <i style="">The Tell-Tale Play, </i>the
company’s
repertoire includes a <i style="">A Stevenson
Treasury </i>(a two-act production featuring Robert Louis Stevenson’s <i
style="">A Child’s Garden of Verses </i>and “The
Bottle Imp”) and a two-act collection of Mark Twain sketches, <i
style="">The Reports of My Death Are Greatly
Exaggerated.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Dawidziak,
the company’s artistic director, is the TV critic at the Cleveland
Plain
Dealer. His nine published books include a novel, <i style="">Grave
Secrets, </i>and such non-fiction works as <i style="">Mark My Words:
Mark Twain on Writing, The Columbo Phile: A Casebook,
The Barter Theatre Story: Love Made Visible, The Night Stalker
Companion </i>and
<i style="">Horton Foote’s The Shape of the River:
The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style=""> </span></i>For
bookings, contact Dawidziak
and Showman at the Largely Literary Theater Company: 330-923-8350 or at
<a href="mailto:hlgrouch@megsinet.net">hlgrouch@sbcglobal.net</a> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">COMPANY BIOS for <i style="">The
Tell-Tale Play</i></b><o:p> <br>
</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><b style="">Alex
J. Nine</b> has acted or directed at
most of the theaters in the greater <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city
w:st="on">Akron</st1:city></st1:place>
area. An <st1:city w:st="on">Akron</st1:city> native, he is a <st1:placename
w:st="on">Kenmore</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">High School</st1:placetype>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Akron</st1:placename></st1:place>
graduate. Some of
his favorite roles are Freddie in <i style="">Noises
Off</i> at Hudson Players, Brick in <i style="">Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof</i> 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 <i style="">A
Midsummer Night’s Dream</i>, Master Ford in <i style="">The Merry
Wives of Windsor</i>, Leonard Vole in <i style="">Witness for the
Prosecution</i>, William Blore in <i style="">Ten Little Indians</i>,
John Proctor in <i style="">The Crucible</i>, Shep Henderson in <i
style="">Bell,
Book and Candle</i>, Joe Pendleton in <i style="">Heaven
Can Wait</i> and Willum Cubbert in <i style="">The
Nerd</i>. He directed Neil Simon’s <i style="">Broadway
Bound </i>at Coach House, where he has appeared in eleven shows,
including <i style="">Chapter Two, Crimes of the Heart, 6 Rms Riv
Vu, Private Lives </i>and <i style="">The Real Thing.
</i>He is currently a member of the Stow Players’ Production Committee
and he
directed another Neil Simon comedy, <i style="">The
Sunshine Boys</i>, at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Stow</st1:city></st1:place>
this year. For four years, he was a member of the Board of Trustees for
Tree
City Players in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
serving as vice president for three of those years. During those years,
he
directed seven shows for the company, ranging from Shakespeare’s <i
style="">Love’s Labours Lost</i> to William Saroyan’s <i style="">Hello,
Out
There!</i> and Eileen Moushey’s <i style="">My Fatal
Valentine</i>. His directing credits also include <i style="">The Odd
Couple</i> and <i style="">The
Foreigner</i> at North Canton Playhouse and <i style="">Communicating
Doors</i> at Hudson Players. He recently played several roles in <i
style="">The Reports of My Death Are Greatly
Exaggerated, </i>the Largely Literary Theater Company’s two-act
adaptation of
sketches by Mark Twain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style=""> </span><b
style="">Sara
Showman</b> has appeared in many
productions in <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state> since moving to
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Akron</st1:city></st1:place>
area in 1983. She
has worked with professional companies, as well as college, children’s
and
community theaters. She has appeared at <st1:placename w:st="on">Kent</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">State</st1:placename>, Weathervane, Coach
House
Theatre, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Beck</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place> 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 <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Kent</st1:placename> <st1:placename
w:st="on">State</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
Favorite roles include Bella
in <i style="">Lost in Yonkers</i>, Melissa in <i style="">Love
Letters</i>, Clara in <i style="">I’m Not Rappaport</i> and Shirley in
<i style="">Shirley Valentine</i>. She also has appeared
in four Shakespeare productions at Stan Hywet. Before moving to <st1:state
w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state>, she appeared in several productions for
theater
companies in her native <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:state></st1:place>,
including <i style="">Another Part of the Forest</i>,
<i style="">A Little Night Music</i>, <i style="">A Streetcar Named
Desire</i>, <i style="">Ten Little Indians</i> and <i style="">Inherit
the Wind. </i>She is the co-founder
and managing director of the Largely Literary Theater Company, playing
15 roles
in <i style="">A Christmas Carol</i> and six roles in
<i style="">The Reports of My Death Are Greatly
Exaggerated.</i> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><b style="">Tom
Stephan</b> combined his acting
avocation with his vocational pursuits for 31 years before he retired
from
English and drama teaching at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename
w:st="on">Stow-Munroe</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Falls</st1:placetype>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">High School</st1:placetype></st1:place>. He
was recognized as a “child star"
at the age of seven when he first appeared onstage in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Canton</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state></st1:place>,
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 <i
style="">A Christmas Carol. </i><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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