Show offers insight into Poe
In the spring of 2006, First Folio founder and executive director David Rice realized he had a problem.
He and co-founder Alison Vesely, his wife, had decided they wanted to do a stage adaptation of the works of Edgar Allan Poe around Halloween.
“We had spent a year looking for the right script, says Rice, a 1972 graduate of Glenbard West High School. “And we couldn't find one we liked.
After reading one particularly ham-fisted script, Rice turned to Vesely and said in disgust, “I could write a better script.
“Go ahead, she replied.
The result was “The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story, which debuted in 2006 and returns this year to First Folio.
In the beginning, Rice sat down to weave together a handful of Poe favorites (“The Pit and the Pendulum, “The Masque of the Red Death, “The Tell-Tale Heart) into an evening of theater. The trick was to find a way to present the material originally so that it was more than just one story after another.
“We wanted a show that would sell, Rice says, “but was something more than just a re-creation of ‘A Tell-Tale Heart.'
First he focused on Poe's relationship with his beloved wife Virginia, who died young of tuberculosis. To tighten up the show, Rice wove selections of Poe's best known poem, “The Raven, (which is in part about Virginia) with scenes from their life together.
“Basically, what I tried to do is give an insight into Poe's life and show how he was able to write such macabre stories, he says.
The second thing Rice did was set his adaptation throughout Mayslake Hall, the mansion now owned by the Oak Brook Park District, in and around which First Folio performs.
“We thought we might as well make use of this mansion we're in. Rice says. “So we combined the play with a tour of the mansion. We chose specific scenes that would work in different rooms in the mansion.
The show opened in 2006.
“The show was so successful, he says. “We had so many customers asking us to bring it back, we decided to revive it in 2007.
The current revival is the third in what may be a long line of revivals. “We made revisions to the play in 2007 and again in 2010, Rice says. “But the basic structure is the same. We have improved the show with each revision.
But the underlying love of Poe remains.
“Poe's work is very underrated, Rice says. “He was an extraordinary writer.
Ÿ “The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe runs through Sunday, Nov. 7, at Mayslake Peabody Estate, 31st Street and Route 83, Oak Brook. For tickets call (630) 986-8067 or go to firstfolio.org.