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Community Corner

"An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe" presented by the Improv Playhouse Radio Players

Re-enacting radio dramas live on stage appear to be a regular staple from the professional actors at Libertyville’s Improv Playhouse.  While being Lake County’s most comprehensive training ground for aspiring youth and adult performers and comedians, David Brian Stuart and his pool of actors have created a steady stream of re-enacted radio productions based on classic literature and previously broadcast shows from the 1930’s through the 50’s.  “On the last Saturday of this month, we’ll be performing two, terrific adaptations of The Tell Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher, originally broadcast in 1938 and 1947”, says Stuart.   Staged as an old time radio drama like those recorded in front of live audiences, the IP Radio Players have most recently produced classics including “Superman/The Green Hornet”,  “The Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke”,  “The Maltese Falcon”, “War of the Worlds” and last year’s Halloween production of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”. The October 26th performance will immerse audiences into the closely adapted world of Poe’s classic horror stories. While abundantly macabre and frightening, audiences will be introduced to a different perspective in The Tell Tale Heart.   “Without giving too much away, The narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" is generally assumed to be male. However, some critics have suggested a woman may be narrating; no pronouns are used to clarify one way or the other”, says Stuart.  “It’s told by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of their sanity, while describing a murder they committed. Ultimately the narrator's guilt manifests itself in the form of the sound — possibly hallucinatory — of the old man's heart still beating under the floorboards.” Sounding like a Poe professor Stuart explains, “The Fall of the House of Usher, and many of Poe’s writings, have many similar distinguishing characteristics. There are always aspects of evil, death and miracles integrated into his literature”.  “In The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe introduces three characters, each a unique person with a distinct personality, yet tied together by the same type of mental disorder. All of them suffer from insanity, yet each responds differently.”  Stuart was Casting Director and an Associate Producer on the independent Emeritus Production feature film, Killing Poe, shot in Mundelein, Arlington Heights and Deerfield this past Summer and early Fall. He cast over a dozen, principal union actors from Chicago-L.A. and over 150 extras from the northern suburbs.  A release date of the “dramedy” is targeted for April/May of 2014 and stars Sunkrish Bala (Walking Dead), Matt Bush (Adventureland), Osric Chau (Supernatural), Cyrina Fiallo (Good Luck Charlie), and Julianna Guill (Friday 13th).  “Killing Poe is a modern, dark comedy about a group of college students who seek revenge toward a bullying literature professor at a Midwestern University.  IP’s Halloween radio dramas will immerse the audience in the horrifically dramatic stories Poe penned over a century ago.”  A special dinner package has been arranged with Libertyville’s Mainstreet Smokehouse, Trattoria Pomigliano and Café Pyrenees.  IP Executive Producer David Brian Stuart is joined by fellow SAG-AFTRA actors George Elliot and Michael Scott Blackman, along with non-union local actors rounding out the cast. Performance times: 7:30 & 9:00 (BYOB). Pre-Sale $17.50 Adults. $12.50 Seniors, Students (w/ID) & Military.  At the Door: $20.00 Adults: $15.00 Seniors, Students & Military. A $2.50 discount to costumed patrons who pay at the door only.  And a costume contest with “Poe” prizes at both performances.  Visit www.improvplayhouse.com , info@improvplayhouse.com or call 847-968-4529 for ticket orders

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