Playing at Poe

Rules, Directions and Selections

Be a Poe(t)!

Join MHC for an evening of improv and "battle of the Poes" at the Strand Theater, 1823 N. Charles Street, October 16, 2009 at 7 p.m.

Participants will use selections by Edgar Allan Poe--poe(ms) and story excerpts--to channel Poe. Choose your favorite work and play with it--recite, dance, draw, make music, whatever.

The audience picks the winner of this free-wheeling contest.

Copies of Poe selections and costumes are provided.

Everyone has fun!

Drew Carey will be there to judge (just kidding!)

Contest Rules: The Last Poe Standing!

• Please read the Poe selections below. The selections will be given at random to the first 10 participants to sign up at the door the night of the Poe-formance. The door opens at 7 p.m. Performances will begin at 7:30 p.m.
  
• During the first round, participants will be asked to "battle" one another. Two participants with the same selection will be pitted head to head, in a no-holds-barred Poe-off! The first contestant will interpret their selection in a fun, engaging way. The second participant will follow, trying to out-Poe the first.
• The selections can be interpreted however you want! You can sing your story, dance your poem, act it, mime it, or trumpet it (sadly, trumpets not provided). We encourage creativity in our participants!
• Each participant will be given 3 to 5 minutes to wow the audience. After 5 minutes, you will be BUZZED. Zzzzzzzzzzz. After each Poe down, the winner will move on to round two.
• The five contestants standing from round one will now enter round two, or what we like to call--the Red Death Match. Each finalist will then be asked to choose a selection for their final performance.
• Finalists will once again interpret the selection in their own style. After all five contestants have performed, the audience will vote for their favorite Poe-formance.
• A $100 cash prize will be awarded to the "last Poe standing."
• Registration begins promptly at 7 p.m. and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Get there early and grab yourself a poe-nut (that's another pun...for peanut).

Directions to the Strand Theater:

The Strand Theater
1823 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
443-874-4917

Click here for a map and driving directions to the Strand Theater.

Click here for the flyer!

About the Selections:

Rejoice in the genius of Poe, whose tortured narrators speak to all our unacknowledged fears. Poe's works of madness and terror juxtapose normality with horror to chilling effect.

Enjoy reading the selections--from Poe's lyrical lament to a lost love--"Annabel Lee"--to his morbid musings on madness--"Berneice" and "The Black Cat." Poems include "The Bells," which every English teacher uses to teach about onomatopoeia and "The Raven," which to Baltimoreans means Ray Lewis!

Musings on the meaning and symbols of death are abundant: "A blood-red thing that writhes from out..." in "The Conqueror Worm"; and acknowledging death's "...dominion over all" in "The Masque of the Red Death"; the endless quest for salvation in "El Dorado" and salvation by ravenous rats in "The Pit and the Pendulum."

Selections:

Click the title to read the selection.

Poems:

• Annabel Lee
• Eldorado
• The Bells
• The Conqueror Worm
• The Raven

Short story excerpts:

• Berenice
• The Black Cat
• Masque of the Red Death
• Pit and the Pendulum

Whether you want to participate in the “battle of the Poes” or be in the audience to cheer on your favorite Poe(t), you are sure to enjoy an evening of poetry, stories, improv and fun!