Celebrating Edgar Allan Poe's 200th Birthday this year!

North Shore Theatre Group presents Greg Oliver Bodine in Poe, Times Two -- a double bill of one-man, stage adaptations of The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe.  Poe, Times Two is being offered as part of NSTG's Solo Classics Performance Series.  These two plays are staged back-to-back with minimal set and lighting effects, and are performed without an intermission in under an hour.  One actor. Two classic horror stories!  Touring colleges & schools Oct. 1 - Nov. 8, 2009.  Suitable for adults and for children (ages 12 and over). So book us for an evening/afternoon of good old-fashioned thrills, chills and all things spooky -- a must-see for Poe enthusiasts and fans of mystery and horror! Perfect for the Halloween season!

PLEASE NOTE: There are no more available touring performances of this show scheduled in 2009 at venues other than colleges, schools and PTA groups.  These organizations only may make booking inquiries by contacting us at the phone number or email address below.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) American poet, critic, and short story writer who contributed greatly to the genres of horror and science fiction.  Poe is now considered the father of the modern detective story and highly lauded as a poet.  Poe’s psychologically thrilling tales examining the depths of the human psyche earned him much fame during his lifetime and after his death. His own life was marred by tragedy at an early age (his parents died before he was three years old) and in his oft-quoted works we can see his darkly passionate sensibilities—a tormented and sometimes neurotic obsession with death and violence and overall appreciation for the beautiful yet tragic mysteries of life.

The Cask of Amontillado (()

"The Cask of Amontillado"’ was first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book, a monthly magazine from Philadelphia that published poems and stories by some of the best American writers of the nineteenth century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.  By the time Poe wrote this story, he was already nationally known as the author of the poem ‘‘The Raven’’ (1844) and of several short stories collected in a book called, simply, Tales (1845).  WARNING: read on for plot spoiler. The story is narrated by Montresor, who carries a grudge against Fortunato for an offense that is never explained. Montresor leads a drunken Fortunato through a series of chambers beneath his palazzo with the promise of a taste of Amontillado, a wine that Montresor has just purchased. When the two men reach the last underground chamber, Montresor chains Fortunato to the wall, builds a new wall to seal him in, and leaves him to die.

The Black Cat    () 

First published on the front page of the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post in August, 1843, "The Black Cat" is one of Poe's famous murder tales. WARNING: read on for plot spoiler. The story is told by the murderer himself, the first-person narrator speaking to us on the eve of his execution for the crime of killing his wife.