johnny

I'm almost finished with the script for Poe's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" which I'll be directing for the 2007 Poe Birthday Celebration (my second)! Along with "Valdemar," I'm incorporating a lot of Poe's theosophy from "Mesmeric Revelation," "The Colloquy of Monos and Una," and his masterwork, "Eureka," all of which illustrate Poe's wonderful theosophy of Unity, his cosmology of Oneness, and his uncanny prefiguration of quantum physics. So, we'll have a riveting beginning (a man hypnotized at the point of death and held there for months), a middle full of metaphysics from beyond the grave, moral conflict, and a real shocker of an ending!

I've confirmed the same brilliant cast I used in "Usher" (and many other shows over the past 20 years). We'll be joined again by my good friend Tony Tsendaes who will be presenting his theatrical adaptation of "Berenice" (talk about a shocker of an ending!), and our producer will once again be Jeff Jerome, the tireless and marvelous Curator of the Poe House and Museum. "Valdemar" will also be a site-specific piece, written especially for Westminster Hall (Baltimore), the final resting place of the man himself. It's not just an income, it is an honor.