The Vince Carney Community Theater at 108 S. Main St. in Rochelle will present “An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe” on Oct. 17-19 and 24-25, 2025.

By mixing monologues with a dash of history, actors will bring several of Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre stories to life on stage. Three short stories and one poem by Poe will be performed.

The production will be directed and narrated by Amy Frank. Terry Camplain will be performing “The Raven”. John Davis will be performing “Imp of the Perverse”. Becky Luken-Peach will perform “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Doug Rappa will be performing “Premature Burial”.

Shows will be at 7 p.m. each day, besides a matinee show at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19. Tickets are now on sale online at vcctrochelle.org and will be available at the door. Concessions and drinks will be served. The show will be VCCT’s first with its new liquor license, and a bar and Poe-themed drinks will be available.

“Each work will be delivered as a first-person monologue by one actor,” Frank said. “Each actor had to memorize a 20-minute monologue. They’re going to be delivering it, not just reading from a book. Two of the works are very well-known and two aren’t as well-known. It will be a little bit of a history lesson along with the show. And it’s the Halloween season. Edgar Allan Poe has that dark style and large following. People who aren’t as familiar with him will learn something.”

The show does not have an assistant director, as that role has been filled in a collaboration between the four cast members, producer and tech crew.

The idea to put on “An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe” came after Frank and her husband saw an Edgar Allan Poe show in Rockford and both thought VCCT should do something like it. Poe’s works are over 100 years old and are free to perform. Frank has spent the past couple of years writing, doing research and building the introductions for the show, which was approved by the VCCT board after she pitched it.

“We have history and insight into why Poe wrote the stories we’re performing,” Frank said. “People shouldn’t expect anything gruesome from the show. Even though it’s macabre, it’s not gruesome. It will be a little darker and spooky and slower. It’s a drama.”

Preparation for the show has been unique due to all of the memorization it takes, Frank said. Cast members have had to memorize “pages upon pages” of monologue and will be alone on stage without other actors to play off of. Another challenge has been the sentence structures and vocabulary that were written by Poe in the 1840s.

“We have to be able to convey this all to the audience,” Frank said. “Our actors have enjoyed the challenge of preparing for this show. This is getting them out of their comfort zone. That’s always sought after for actors.”

Frank said she’s excited to see the show come to life and to set the mood for the community during Halloween season.

“It’s about bringing the words in a book to life on a stage,” Frank said. “It’s acting. It’s a one-person show.”