Piccolo Spoleto performances honor Edgar Allan Poe

At the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, two immersive performances honor the works of Edgar Allan Poe, whom Charleston locals love to claim as their one of their own. The internationally acclaimed writer and poet lived on Sullivan’s Island between November 1827 and December 1828.

“ALONE…”

In his one-man show “ALONE… Tales from Edgar Allan Poe,” Daniel Hall Kuhn said he wants to spark imaginations young and old with Poe’s classic stories.

“The way [Poe] writes engages not only our imaginations to create imagery for these fancy words he’s putting out before us, but it engages our empathy,” he said.

The 50-minute performance features retellings of Poe’s tales, including the titular “Alone,” “The Raven,” “The Bells” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Kuhn tells each story in-character as the central figures who narrate them.

One, “Annabel Lee,” has a ghostly connection to the Charleston area, Kuhn said. According to a local legend, the Unitarian Church graveyard is said to be haunted by Anna Ravenel, who is rumored to be the inspiration for Poe’s poem.

“Her grave is actually in the graveyard right next to the stage I’m performing on,” Kuhn said.

The production displays video projections and sound between live scenes to provide seamless transitions with performances of smaller poems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kuhn learned skills like animation, light programming and video editing to make these effects possible.

“I had to just teach myself all these things over the pandemic, and still ongoing, for the show to have evolved from where it started to where it is right now,” he said.

Kuhn, who has staged “ALONE” since 2023, intends to tour schools with it after the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Its portability would help teachers avoid organizing trips by bringing theatrical performances to the classroom and allow students to visualize Poe, who is often a staple of reading curricula.

“I think it’s great literature and there’s a reason they teach it in middle schools and high schools,” he said.

He also hopes it will help reconnect adult audiences with literature they might have read as teenagers and perhaps remind them of the fun they had doing so.

“Whenever people can get back in touch with the effect of what any form of art has on them, I think it makes for a better society in a small way,” he said.

“ALONE… Tales from Edgar Allan Poe’s” remaining performances occur at various dates and times between May 31 and June 7 at Gage Hall. Find tickets and times here.

“Cognac and Roses“

In its own ode to Poe, the Threshold Repertory Theater presents “Cognac and Roses: A Toast to Edgar Allan Poe.”

According to the Piccolo Spoleto website, the 90-minute performance features “Poe’s best and most loved works told by six master storytellers.” It contains 11 poems and short stories retold by the cast.

“This cast of six will open your mind in a whole new way to the phantasmagorical world of Edgar Allan Poe,” the website says.

“Cognac and Roses: A Toast to Edgar Allan Poe” has one remaining performance on May 31 at 5:00 p.m at the Threshold Repertory Theatre. Find tickets here.

Ethan Stinson is an arts journalism and communications graduate student at Syracuse University.