Here’s some pictures taken from Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe and Gorey. Most of these are from the rehearsal earlier in the day before the performance Saturday night, October 18th. Accompanied by excerpts from The Listing Attic and The Fatal Lozenge by Edward Gorey.

Photos by Dani Ballew.

Here I am trying to keep my face from falling off while director Jeffrey Schoenberg gives us notes before we get started.

“The Tourist huddles in the station
While slowly night gives way to dawn;
He finds a certain fascination
In knowing all the trains are gone.” 

“A dreary young bank clerk named Fennis
Wished to foster an aura of menace;
To make people afraid
He wore gloves of grey suede
And white footgear intended for tennis.”

Here I am with Lisa Bingham, who is saying:

“To a weepy young woman in Thrums
Her betrothed remarked, “This is what comes
Of allowing your tears
To fall into my ears —
I think they have rotted my drums.”

“As the beeches-buoy swung toward the rocks,
Its occupant cried, ‘Save my socks!
I could not bear the loss,
For with scarlet silk floss
My mama has embroidered their clocks.'”

Here I am with Doug Bingham (center) and Louis Esposito, who is saying:

“Some Harvard men, stalwart and hairy,
Drank up several bottles of sherry
In the Yard around three
They were shrieking with glee:
‘Come out, we are burning a fairy!'”

(I guess they would vote in favor of Prop. 8? For shame.) 

“There was a young man, name of Fred,
Who spent every Thursday in bed;
He lay with his feet
Outside of the sheet
And the pillows of top of his head.”

I think this is my favorite one. With Kendra Chell:

“A guest in a household quite charmless
Was informed its eccentric was harmless:
‘If you’re caught unawares
At the top of the stairs,
Just remember, he’s eyeless and armless.'”

“There was a young curate whose brain
Was deranged from the use of cocaine;
He lured a small child
To a copse dark and wild,
Where he beat it to death with his cane.”

(A copse? Yes, a copse, of course.) 

“There was a young sportsman named Peel
Who went for a trip on his wheel;
He pedaled for days 
Through crepuscular haze,
And returned feeling somewhat unreal.”

“A gentleman otherwise meek,
Detested with passion the leek;
When offered one out
He dealt such a clout
To the maid, she was out for a week.”

Left to right: Lisa Bingham, Julia Silverman, Rachel Neff, Louis Esposito, me, Kendra Chell (tragically obscured), Doug Bingham, Pauline Bingham

I think this is Lisa saying:

“The babe, with a cry brief and dismal,
Fell into the water baptismal;
Ere they’d gather its plight
It had sunk out of sight
For the depth of the font was abysmal.”

 

Unfortunately a bit blurry, but me in costume. The director Jeffrey has an amazing costume shop, AJS Costumes in Burbank.