“Those who dream by day,” wrote Edgar Allan Poe, “are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” If that’s true, we all have much to learn from the inveterate daydreamers of Theater Artists Olympia. TAO normally performs in a Capital Mall storefront a few doors down the concourse from Cinemark, but for four nights in late October, it’ll present material from the works of Poe himself as part of a spooky annual festival at Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood. Four of the Baltimorean horror master’s macabre tales will be presented under the collective title Poe Nocturne. If TAO’s success with such unsettling scripts as 1984, The Mystery Plays and Titus Andronicus are an indication, he should feel right at haunted home.
Spouses John and Lynette Charters visited the gardens on John’s birthday. When Lynette, a painter, expressed admiration of Lakewold’s art gallery, executive director Susan Warner invited her to show her work there. When that collaboration proved successful, Warner remarked, “We’d love to have some theater done here. Do you know anybody who’s into theater?” They do. John is a veteran actor and vice-president of Theater Artists Olympia (as well as the business manager of OLY ARTS), so he agreed to direct a Tacoma Arts Live production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the venue in August 2023. That production was a hit, so Lakewold recruited TAO into its All Hallows’ Eve festival program for late October.
That didn’t seem the right occasion for another full Shakespeare production, so John suggested fully dramatized versions of “The Tell-Tale Heart” and other Poe short stories instead. The venue’s rear-projection movie screen will serve as the backdrop for a collection of short plays set in various locations. The festival’s admission price will cover, not only the Poe material, but also a no-host bar and eerie, diverse entertainments in Lakewold Gardens. Poe Nocturne will be directed by TAO artistic director Pug Bujeaud, with a visual style similar to that of her recent storefront production of The Mystery Plays.
Some of the scripts will be excerpted from playwright Rachel Luann Strayer’s adaptation The Poe Asylum. Strayer allows for portions of her script to be presented as standalone one-acts. “They’re interestingly dramatized,” Serembe notes. “We may steal her style for some of the others, because … we’d rather do a couple of other Poe stories that may have a little more humor involved. Hers are all kind of dire, and you have a black cat with its eyes being gouged out. We’re gonna skip that one.”
Because of the narrow rehearsal window between Mystery Plays and mid-October, TAO is hand-picking Poe Nocturne’s cast instead of holding open auditions as usual. The show will be staged “in the Wagner House inside the estate,” says Serembe, “because we never know about rain, right? We’ve cordoned off an area inside one of the bigger rooms, next to the fireplace.” Serembe finds the space an apt setting for Gothic melodrama. “It looks like a museum on the inside,” he continues. “It’s got wainscoting, and it looks great. The whole place is gonna be decorated on the outside as well. They’ll have lights in the trees and spooky music.”
That brings us to the so-called “Lakewold Monster.” According to the venue’s website, “Rumor says it is a creature that evolved as the climate has changed and caused harm to Lakewold’s native flora and fauna. Displeased with the treatment of its home by humans, the Monster is said to emerge from Gravelly Lake to seek revenge as the days transition from daylight to darkness.”
Explains Serembe, “One of their staff will be on stilts in a giant monster costume, stalking around with a giant puppet head. I think it’ll be an interesting, fun time.”
Photo credits: Lakewold Gardens and Lisa Monet Photography
WHAT
Poe Nocturne at All Hallows’ Eve
WHEN
6-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 20-28
WHERE Lakewold Gardens,
12317 Gravelly Lake Dr. SW, Lakewood
HOW MUCHFree-$20
WHEN
6-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 20-28
WHERE Lakewold Gardens,
12317 Gravelly Lake Dr. SW, Lakewood
HOW MUCHFree-$20
LEARN MORE
253-584-4106
lakewoldgardens.org