Evermore: A Story About Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was a poet most dreary. This master of the macabre, whose lyrical prose was mired in the morose, was a bit of a gloomy Gus. However, in a fresh take by playwright and Foothill Theatre Company’s Associate Artist Gary Wright, we get a peek behind the dark stereotype known as Poe.

Evermore, not only explores the origins of some of Poe’s stories and poems, it also strives to give us a more sympathetic picture of the sensitive and troubled artist. Wright doesn’t shy away from the fact that Poe was a complicated, difficult druggie and drunk who alienated himself by taking public potshots of his fellow poets. But Wright successfully manages to find the man behind the myth, and the heart behind the darkness.

Evermore evokes Amadeus by presenting two artistic foils with shades of jealousy and manipulation—the genius Poe (Eric Wheeler) and his resentful editor Rufus Griswold (Ted Barton), and introduces us to the artistic muse, Poe’s wife Virginia (Elana Wright).

The strong script by Wright is supported by a gifted cast, including the remarkable performance by Wheeler, who thoroughly embodies Poe. In a mesmerizing moment, Wheeler stands center stage, bathed in the spotlight of Foothill’s Victorian-era theater, and gives a most astonishing recitation of "The Raven" that will haunt you evermore.