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Electric Poe: Review

An Electrifyingly Spooky-good Show... in a Cemetery!

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TIP: As of 10/13/2020, Coterie's production of Electric Poe is now available to watch anytime on demand! The link for the public to watch on-demand is https://www.showtix4u.com/events/thecoterie.

Jordan Spatz and courtesy of The Coterie

The work of Edgar Allen Poe, lit's master of the macabre, is so perfectly suited for a Halloween performance in a cemetery, one could easily think that Coterie's "Electric Poe" had long been part of Kansas City's theater schedule this fall. The setting, the material, the performers, the costumes... it's all so idyllic for a brisk October play... it's as though the show was always meant to be. 

This year, the Coterie, our beloved local children's theater, staffed by a creative team that is always up to a challenge, spread their wings a little further as they had to embrace heightened health and safety standards in accordance with the city's COVID-19 policies and consideration for their performers and audience. The result is truly a brilliant and ingenious idea...

This fall, families are invited to Kansas City's oldest cemetery, Union Cemetery (established in 1857), where R.H. Wilhoit and Rex Hobart captivate audiences with their masterful retelling of two of Poe's pieces, The Premature Burial and The Masque of the Red Death.

The atmosphere is perfect for these two mysterious tales... 

The Show:

The show is staged in front of a holding cell at Union Cemetery. The room built into a hill appears to be an old crypt, but we learned it was a place to hold caskets for those who passed away in winter months when the ground was too cold and frozen to dig. Once it was warmer, they would be placed in their permanent locations. The mystery behind the cell and its setting offered a perfect backdrop for such haunting tales.

R.H. Wilhoit performs both stories in first-person interpretation with Rex Hobart on the Electric Guitar providing a spooky and sometimes spine-chilling accompaniment.

Jordan Spatz and courtesy of The Coterie Theatre.

Wilhoit performs the first tale, The Premature Burial as a rather nervous, studious, fellow reminiscent of Ichabod Crane. He builds suspense spinning tales, we are told they are true, of innocent victims who have been mistakenly buried alive. As he proceeds, each story is scarier than the last until he explains his connection and fear of being buried before he is deceased. The guitar music effectively wales in the background with the audience easily imagining the grim outcome for the victims.

Jordan Spatz and courtesy of The Coterie Theatre.

In the second tale, Wilhoit transforms himself into an altogether different character with much more confidence and assertiveness than the first as he tells the story of The Masque of the Red Death. This timely piece tells of a world where the highly contagious Red Death is spreading rapidly and Prince Prospero is so afraid of the disease he walls himself and his courtiers away from the outside world. Rex Hobart plays the part of the Red Death, lurking after the Prince until the surprise ending...

Jordan Spatz and courtesy of The Coterie

Both tales seem timely both for Halloween and for 2020 and the actors did an amazing job of transporting the audience into the world of Poe. The mystery and suspense of the stories are perfectly suited to autumn theater in a cemetery and we think Coterie should make it a new fall tradition to present live mysteries at Union Cemetery. 

If your family enjoys macabre mysteries and live theater, you'll thoroughly enjoy this hauntingly good performance.

Tickets / Plots / Masks / and Details:

Guests pre-purchase "plots" for $50/each for up to 4 people. You may bring your blanket or folding chairs to enjoy the show outdoors. There are a limited number of plots available to ensure 6-foot social distancing.

The Coterie’s Electric Poe will run approximately 45 minutes, followed by an optional Q&A with performers and a Union Cemetery historian. Electric Poe will be best appreciated by families with ages ten and older. The Coterie is funded in part by the Missouri Arts Council, ArtsKC Fund, and Theater League. Adapted and directed by Coterie producing artistic director, Jeff Church, Electric Poe will have performances Thursdays-Sundays at sunset September 17-October 31, 2020.

There is no late seating and guests are encouraged to arrive early, with seating beginning thirty minutes before showtime.

Patrons must be masked to enter and exit, but masks may be removed once seated. Guests park, then walk to the cemetery gates where names are given and their reservations are confirmed (a no-touch check-in process). Then, you follow a lit path (though it was still daylight when we arrived for the show, with dusk just settling in as we left at the end), and a team member directs you to your plot. Each plot is equipped with a stadium tarp and marked with a "tombstone" where you may scan a QR code to read the show program or donate to the Coterie (it has been a very hard year for theater). 

At the end of the show, groups exit one at a time to allow for distancing. We found this went very smoothly (it is limited seating, it was a small audience), and worked out perfectly for everyone.

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