Shuddersome: Tales of Poe Cast

Callaghan Carter is a 26 year old born and raised in Ellsworth Maine. She went to The University of Maine in Orono for a degree in theatre and a minor in creative writing. This is Callaghan’s second show with TBT and is so happy to be back! Callaghan has performed in many shows, and some of her favorite roles include: Tracy in Hairspray (2010), Calypso in The Odyssey (2014), Mae in The Pajama Game (2016), Maud Dunlop in The Music Man (2019) Fern/Goose in Charlotte’s Web (2019) and Phebe in As You Like It (2021). When Callaghan isn’t acting on stage or directing, she is an Ed Tech 1:1 in Special Education, working on her book, fishing, or spending time with friends and family. Callaghan would like to thank her friends, family and boyfriend Avery for their love and support throughout this whole process. Mimi and Marcia, you have the best seat in the house.

Caitlin Hession has loved acting since the first time she ever experienced it in first grade. Since then, she has been in as many performances as she could be, growing up with Penobscot Theatre's Dramatic Academy program and going off to perform in college and beyond. Caitlin is beyond excited to work with Ten Bucks Theatre. Previously, she has been in Much Ado About Nothing as Borachio, Little Women as ensemble, and Romeo and Juliet twice as the Nurse and Abraham/Lady Montague. When not acting, Caitlin works as a high school English teacher, spreading her love of Shakespeare to many an unenthusiastic teen.

Is a Bangor-based Englishman and is very pleased to be working once again with Ten Bucks Theatre and the excellent creative team behind this exciting and ghoulish production. He has performed for the last 15 years across the greater-Bangor area. Acting credits, not only with Ten Bucks Theatre, include productions with Penobscot Theatre, Acadia Repertory Theatre on MDI, the Grand Theatre in Ellsworth and New Surry Theatre in Blue Hill. These productions include: The Importance of Being Earnest, God of Carnage, And Then There Were None, Wit, Pygmalion, Bus Stop, Twelfth Night, Spamalot, Fallen Angels, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure & Witness For The Prosecution.

Bunny is happy to be back performing with Ten Bucks Theatre! Her past Ten Bucks productions include three Shakespeare productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Richard the Third, and The Sunshine Boys, Becky’s New Car, and Death of a Salesman. She has performed in numerous Penobscot Theatre productions, as well as Bangor Community Theatre’s production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore last Fall. She also has numerous film and commercial credits. Bunny is a Yoga instructor at OM Land Yoga in Bangor and Brewer. She lives in Holden with her husband Richard, and her yellow Lab Lucy.

Jennifer is excited to be performing in Shuddersome: Tales of Poe for Ten Bucks Theatre. Jennifer has been a member of TBT since 2015 and a Board member in various roles since 2017. This is her second time acting for Ben Layman, which is always a delight! This show is equal parts funny, creepy, and weird, and has been exciting and fun to see transform from page-to-stage. Enjoy the show!

Jim is pleased to be back to the TBT stage after a 20+ year hiatus. Since performing in TBT's first Shakespeare in the Park, Taming of the Shrew, he has had the pleasure of performing with seven other community theaters, with Winterport Open Stage being closest to his heart.

Deanna Rice has been performing in plays and musicals since her early days as nursery rhyme characters in her Kindergarten play. Yes, there are videos. No, you may not see them. In following years she played Duffy in Annie, and was part of the ensemble in Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Annie Get Your Gun and Oliver!, all while performing with the Presque Isle Community Players. After moving to the Bangor area in 2012, she started doing shows with Ten Bucks as soon as she was able. She has most recently been seen as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, a reader in Scary Stories, Audrey in As You Like It, various characters in Spoon River Anthology, and the Burlesque Nurse in The Sunshine Boys, all with TBT. She has also worked behind the scenes as stage manager and stage crew for both TBT and True North Theatre productions. She currently serves as the Secretary and Member's Director for TBT. Fall is her favorite time of year and Poe is one of her favorite writers, so she is thrilled to be involved with this production. Time to get spooky!

Lauren Poulin is a freshman at the University of Maine and is enrolled in the Honors College. She comes from Kennebunk, Maine, and has appeared in several productions at Kennebunk High School. This is her first performance with Ten Bucks Theatre Company.

Delaney McFaden (Stage Manager) is a fourth year at the University of Maine, studying studio art. Since their freshman year, they’ve been heavily involved with the theatre department, having stage managed and assistant stage-managed numerous shows (Twelfth Night, Man of No Importance, Terra Nova) and acting this past spring in Six Dead Queens & an Inflatable Henry. They’ve worked with Ten Bucks for the previous two summers, stage managing As You Like It and Romeo & Juliet. They’ve had a blast working on this show, and would like to thank their partner Addi for always keeping the porch light on for them after late night rehearsals. Enjoy the show!

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston. Poe’s father and mother, both professional actors, died before the poet was three years old, and John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a prosperous tobacco exporter, sent Poe to the best boarding schools and, later, to the University of Virginia, where Poe excelled academically. After less than one year of school, however, he was forced to leave the university when Allan refused to pay Poe’s gambling debts. Poe returned briefly to Richmond, but his relationship with Allan deteriorated. In 1827, Poe moved to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army. His first collection of poems, Tamerlane, and Other Poems (George Redway), was published that year. In 1829, he published a second collection entitled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (Hatch & Dunning). Neither volume received significant critical or public attention. Following his Army service, Poe was admitted to the United States Military Academy, but he was again forced to leave for lack of financial support. He then moved into the home of his aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter, Virginia, in Baltimore. Poe began to sell short stories to magazines at around this time, and, in 1835, he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, where he moved with his aunt and cousin Virginia. In 1836, he married Virginia, who was thirteen years old at the time. Over the next ten years, Poe would edit a number of literary journals including the Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City. It was during these years that he established himself as a poet, a short story writer, and an editor. He published some of his best-known stories and poems, including “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and “The Raven.” After Virginia’s death from tuberculosis in 1847, Poe’s lifelong struggle with depression and alcoholism worsened. He returned briefly to Richmond in 1849 and then set out for an editing job in Philadelphia. For unknown reasons, he stopped in Baltimore. On October 3, 1849, he was found in a state of semi- consciousness. Poe died four days later of “acute congestion of the brain.” Evidence by medical practitioners who reopened the case has shown that Poe may have been suffering from rabies. Poe’s work as an editor, poet, and critic had a profound impact on American and international literature. His stories mark him as one of the originators of both horror and detective fiction. Many anthologies credit him as the “architect” of the modern short story. He was also one of the first critics to focus primarily on the effect of style and structure in a literary work; as such, he has been seen as a forerunner to the “art for art’s sake” movement. French Symbolists such as  Stéphane Mallarmé  and Arthur Rimbaud claimed him as a literary precursor. Charles Baudelaire spent nearly fourteen years translating Poe into French. Today, Poe is remembered as one of the first American writers to become a major figure in world literature.

Director/Props/Costumes: Ben Layman Stage Manager: Delaney McFaden Sound Design: Neil Graham Staged Movement for The Oval Portrait: Aimee Gerow Set Design/Light Design: Elliott Wilcox Publicity, Poster and Social Media design: Jesse Speed Special Thanks: Julie Arnold Lisnet Penobscot Theatre Company