culture@dailylobo.com
Blackout Theatre is a bit like Pixar.
The theater company brims with creativity, originality and energy, and produces the kind of work that makes similar companies shake their heads in wonder at each apparently perfect production. But every once in while, you make a “Brave.” Or a “Cars 2.” No one denies the imagination and obvious passion behind the projects.
It’s just hard to compare everything to “Up.”
Similarly, Blackout’s newest endeavor is “The Poe Project: Merely This and Nothing More,” which may not be its best, but it’s still got Blackout’s touch and talent, and it demands attention.
“The Poe Project” closes out Poe Fest, the joint endeavor of Blackout Theatre and Duke City Repertory Theatre.
The show is an ode to Poe, as you would expect. Familiar character names are used from Poe’s stories, but the plot does not directly follow any particular Poe story. All that is required to enjoy the production is a love for the ghoulish and the Gothic.
The script is short but still manages to feel long. This is an old Blackout piece that has been refurbished. The slow progression is effective for building intrigue and horror, but the earlier scenes don’t always garnish the pop of the latter half’s striking disclosures.
But this is just minor nitpicking of a fascinating piece of original theater that deserves your time.
Shannon Flynn is downright awesome as foppish moron Auguste Dupin, who is quite a different character from the pre-Sherlock Holmes super detective from which the character takes his name. The show is very Poe-y indeed, but there is still much humor in it, too, with most of the best jokes and character work done by Flynn. He is a delight every moment he is onstage.
Similarly engaging, though less jocular and more ghastly, is Katy Andersen playing the part of the enigmatic Lenore. Partly due to her character’s mysterious nature and partly due to her Elvira makeup, Andersen is an alluring and eerie siren. As Lenore she is powerful and terrifying, and it is hard to take your eyes off her.
Chris Walsh plays lead character and mad scientist Valdemar Usher.
Walsh’s strengths lie in the early comedy of the piece, before the play explains its plot underpinnings and the horror creeps in.
Usher is endearing in his social ineptitude and brooding creepiness. The strength and focus of the character, and of the play overall, meander a bit as Usher loses some of his strangeness and when some of the more serious moments lack the punch they need. The events become more grotesque and bizarre — delightfully so — but Usher somehow becomes more normal.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
E. Dani Belvin plays Victorian object of desire and female intellectual Rowena. Rowena is the least arresting of the characters and certainly has the least-describable characteristics. Rowena lacks the comic nonchalance of Auguste, the unabashed horror of Usher and the devilish ambition of Lenore.
Tragedy can often require innocence, but Rowena’s lack of definition stands out when so many other specific visual and thematic details are addressed.
Like all Blackout productions, much attention has been placed on technical efforts. The costumes by Lila Martinez and J. Nicole Duke are detailed and attractive, especially considering the play’s 19th-century setting, which marks the actors with ruffled collars and delightfully silly hats.
There are clever uses for light and set provided by Joshua Bien, particularly in the show’s most powerful big reveal. Large veins and tendrils snake above the action, creating a visually fascinating curiosity. Music by Monica DeMarco is ambivalent and avant-garde, sprinkling in auditory weirdness to match the physical horror.
Best of all, however, is the makeup design by Jennifer Quinteros.
It is something to behold, making what could have looked amateur into something truly special. The big reveal is a visual marvel and is alone worth the price of admission.
Blackout challenges itself and its audiences with its passion for theater and drive to try new things. “The Poe Project” is no different.
It would be a shame for Blackout to declare “never more” when the appropriate reply ought to be: “Never! More, more!”
“The Poe Project: Merely This and Nothing More”
Directed by Jeff Andersen
VSA North Fourth Art Center
4904 Fourth St. N.W.
Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.,
Sunday at 2 p.m.
Runs through Sunday
General admission $15
Seniors, students and
military $10
For reservations,
call (505) 672-8648 or
visit BlackoutTheatre.com
