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Conspiracy theories revolve around Edgar Allan Poe’s death as much as they do around the deaths of Elvis, Tupac and JFK.
Organizers of Albuquerque Poe Fest may not have a definite answer for how he died, but they do know where he died and everything else that happened to him.
The Duke City Repertory Theatre and Blackout Theatre Company join forces to host a month of Edgar Allan Poe-related events, performances and drinking games.
Actors and production members of the Duke City Repertory Theatre immersed themselves in Poe’s history and works to prepare for the company’s play, a biographical and storytelling piece, said artistic director Amelia Ampuero.
“It’s part history lesson, part Edgar Allen Poe thriller, macabre stories, so we thought it was a really good fit,” Ampuero said. “We all as a company had at least some very superficial exposure to Poe, and in doing the play and getting ready for the festival, we’ve all jumped into the deep end of the Poe pool.”
Ampuero said the festival came together after someone from Blackout Theatre realized both production companies were going to put on Poe-themed plays around the same time. They then coordinated to create a broader festival to celebrate the author.
“We thought ‘OK, we can’t just do a festival with two shows — that’s not really a festival; it’s just us doing a production,’” Ampuero said. “Both of the companies got together and started throwing out ideas, and that’s when we came up with the Poe-themed pub trivia, just like a Poe ‘Geeks Who Drink.’”
Other events include a masquerade ball, live story readings at bookstores and the two theater productions. Poe-themed events run until April.
Ampuero said it’s important to honor Poe because of his influence and fame as an American author.
“He was writing about the dark underbelly of humanity during a period where people weren’t writing about that at all,” Ampuero said. “He’s the father of American horror; he created the American horror genre. He was incredibly influential with the science fiction genre. His influence is far reaching. So many writers have been influenced by his work, from Kafka to Stephen King.”
UNM student Stephanie Grilo, an actress in Duke City Repertory Theatre’s production “Poe,” said the Poe immersion has been stimulating.
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“The inner life of Poe is something of terror and fright and torment and love and anguish, and it’s been so interesting to be able to play around with the different facets of his life,” Grilo said.
Ampuero said “Poe” chronicles events in the author’s life and relates them to his greatest works. John Hardy wrote and directs “Poe.” He recently performed a one-man version of “A Christmas Carol,” in which he played about 40 characters. Grilo said working with Hardy has opened her eyes to a new type of acting.
“It’s been a very new experience for me. It was frightening, I mean it depressed the s*** out of me for a while because I felt like I wasn’t doing my job,” Grilo said. “John even told me ‘You’re probably going to cry throughout this process at some point,’ and sure enough I did, but in the best way possible, because it was always out of working more and more, wanting to dig deeper, wanting to find discoveries.”
