NEVERMORE!

Edgar Allan Poe: The Final Mystery

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

Produced by: CAT (Chamberlayne Actors Theatre)

At: Atlee High School (indoors), 9414 Atlee Station Rd., Mechanicsville, VA 23116 & Gayton Kirk Presbyterian Church (outdoors), 11421 Gayton Rd., Henrico, VA 23238

Performances: October 8-10, 2021, at Atlee High School & October 15-16, 2021, at Gayton Kirk

Ticket Prices: $24 General Admission; $20 Seniors

Info: (804) 262-9760 or https://onthestage.tickets/chamberlayne-actors-theatre

Many individuals and companies went into the pandemic not knowing what to expect from these unprecedented times and came out strong. For CAT, the Chamberlayne Actors Theatre, self-tagged as “Richmond’s professional theater with the community heart,” things are, well, complicated. Prior to the lockdown, CAT had been in delicate negotiations with the owners of their long-time home on No. Wilkinson Road in Henrico County. Now they are producing their first show in 18 months under the banner “stray CATs,” and a hobo stick has been added to their logo kitty. The temporarily homeless theater company good-naturedly bills their 2021-2022 season as a “touring” season.

CAT has long had a tradition of producing an annual mystery, and this year’s opening show is based on a real-life mystery. On September 27, 1849, Edgar Allen Poe boarded a ferry in Richmond, VA, headed to New York. He never made it to New York. He was found wandering around Baltimore, MD, October 3, delirious. He was hospitalized and died a few days later, on October 7, without ever regaining full cognition. They say truth is stranger than fiction; who could make up something like that?

Julian Wiles’ NEVERMORE!: Edgar Allan Poe: The Final Mystery (1994) enlists Poe’s own life, poems, and stories to explore what might have happened during the final five days of Poe’s life, which remain an unsolved mystery. A full-length play in two acts with one intermission, NEVERMORE! is being performed as a collaboration between CAT and the Atlee HS’s Raider Players, many of whom have worked with CAT as interns, actors, or crew members over the years. Further strengthening this tie, CAT’s Executive Board President, Charles A. Wax, is also a Drama teacher at Atlee HS.

NEVERMORE! has a cast of four principals: Mark Lacy as Edgar Allan Poe, John Marshall as his friend Jeremiah Reynolds, Paige Reisenfeld as Capt. Nimrod aka Satan/Lucifer, and Caitlin Nolan as Poe’s mysterious love interest, Annabel Lee. There is also an eight-member Ensemble made up of both professional and student actors: Sandra Clayton, William Henry, Mary Huhmann, Barbara Johnson, Maddie Moralez, Carter Mullen, Audrey Sparrow, and Camden Sparrow.

The play’s synopsis is promises to be interesting, and the script calls for a number of attention-grabbing magic tricks and the cast approached the production with enthusiasm. But there were several impediments to the successful execution of this show.

First, due to COVID-19 and the protocols of the venue, a Hanover County public school, everyone had to wear masks – including the actors. They all wore the ones with clear windows, so we could see most of their faces and watch their lips move, but the sound was still muffled, and the masks were distracting, giving a kind of sci-fi or horror-movie look to what would otherwise have been a classic traditional mystery.

Second, the uncredited set design was a rough-hewn affair consisting of three platforms of varying sizes and heights, with a few steps, and a sheet or sail stretched across the middle platform that was used to project the background scenes. The screen appeared to get swallowed up in the vastness of the stage.

Third, the company was unable or chose not to execute all the magic tricks as described in the script. To be clear, they did include a couple of disappearances or character switches and one attention-grabbing return from the dead. Overall, given the blended cast, the location, and the very real challenges of a new space, a blended cast and crew (many of whom played multiple roes or wore multiple crew hats) and an on-going pandemic that led to last minute cast changes, NEVERMORE! looks and feels more like a high school production than a professional one. The actors appeared to occupy the space, rather than own it and given the short run in two different venues, I really don’t see a way for this production to meet its own or the audience’s expectations.

NEVERMORE! Edgar Allan Poe: The Final Mystery

Written by Julian Wiles

Directed by Charles A. Wax and Jon Piper

CAST:

Mark Lacy as Edgar Allan Poe

Paige Reisenfeld as Captain Nimrod

John Marshall as Reynolds

Caitlin Nolan as Annabel Lee

ENSEMBLE: Mary Huhmann, Sandra Clayton, William Henry, Maddie Moralez, Audrey Sparrow, Barbara Johnson, Carter Mullen, and Camden Sparrow

CREATIVE TEAM:

Stage Manager: Sue Howells

Assistant Stages Manager: Drake Leskowyak

Lighting Design: Jason Lucas

Sound Design: Jenn Fisher

Costume Design: Alison Eichler

Lights Operator: Jason Lucas

Sound Operator: Jenn Fisher

Program and Graphics:: Jason Lucas

Photos provided by Ann Davis

Performance Schedule:

Friday, October 8 at 8pm – Atlee High School (inside)

Saturday, October 9 at 8pm – Atlee High School (inside)

Sunday, October 10 at 2:30pm – Atlee High School (inside)

Friday, October 15 at 8pm – The Gayton Kirk (outside)

Saturday, October 16 at 8pm – The Gayton Kirk (outside)