Just in time for Halloween, Mill Mountain Theatre Conservatory (MMTC) will round out its 2016 performance programming with POE: a theatrical exploration of the mysterious and macabre, an original adaptation of poems and short stories by the renowned author Edgar Allan Poe. This 40-minute new work, adapted and directed by Mill Mountain Theatre’s (MMT) Alicia Varcoe, brings to the stage some of the author’s most beloved works including “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Bells,” amongst others. The cast and crew features 10 middle and high school performers, designers, and technicians from the ranks of MMTC’s pre-professional training program.
Extending this educational impact beyond the cast and crew, POE presents another opportunity for MMTC to collaborate with Star City Reads, Roanoke’s All-America City Award-Winning Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Through this partnership, MMTC will distribute free books to students who attend a performance. Previous collaborations in this series (Aesop’s Fables, Tall Tales, All the World’s a Stage, and Into the Woods, Jr.) have, thus far in 2016, led to the distribution of 665 free books to youth in Roanoke Valley. Moreover, surveys garnered from those productions have shown that 82% of children read the distributed books and 42% planned to visit libraries for more books. “Our goal is not only to provide an opportunity for young artists to learn through the process of performing great works, said Briggs, but also to serve as a gateway to great literature for audience members who leave our shows inspired to read.”
POE also marks Mill Mountain Theatre’s first official production offering pay-what-you-can admission. “We are committed to the principle that our theatre and its educational initiatives should be a resource available to everyone in our community, said Producing Artistic Director, Ginger Poole. (We hope that by lowering the financial barrier to entry to our education productions, we can continue to cultivate the next generation of artists and audiences in Roanoke Valley.”)
POE opens on Saturday, Oct. 22, with performances at 1 and 3 p.m. on MMT’s Waldron Stage at 20 Church Ave., SE. Other performances are slated for October 24 and 28 at 7 p.m., and on October 29 at 1 and 3 p.m. All performances are pay-what-you-can for admission at the door.
