Jeffrey Combs NEVERMORE An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe

Nevermore

 

 

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JEFFREY COMBS in “NEVERMORE, AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE”
Now on Audible worldwide from Redfield Arts Audio


Recorded before a live audience, Jeffrey Combs gives an electrifying performance in “NEVERMORE, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”. Written by Dennis Paoli and Directed by Stuart Gordon. Produced for audio by Mark Redfield. The creative team of this audio book performance dedicates it to Stuart Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020). Without whose talent, vision, persistence, and passion, this live performance would never have happened. 

Jeffrey Combs gives an electrifying performance in “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”. Recorded before a live audience in Boston in 2014, Poe, with all of his passions, foibles, aspirations, and demons, comes vividly to life in this bravura, one-person play. Playwright Dennis Paoli expertly weaves Poe’s actual words, from letters and essays, with select poems and tales, and lets Poe tell his own story. With Combs’ full-blooded performance, Poe is brought to exciting life - - imagine that you are in the audience listening to Poe give one of his famous lectures in 1848, and on display is Poe’s humor, sadness, genius, ego, and indomitable spirit! Director Stuart Gordon guides the proceedings with a gentle touch, revealing the humanity, the triumph and the tragedy, of America’s great poet and teller-of-tales, Edgar Allan Poe. 

“This is Poe in his own words. Our text is taken from his letters and essays and we have based our evening on reviews and reports of his actual appearances. Our goal is to present a sense of the fascinating man behind the poetry and brilliant tales, a man who could be his own worst enemy, and whose life was even more bizarre and tragic than his strangest story.”
- Stuart Gordon, October 2014

Redfield Arts Audio Presents “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”.

Starring Jeffrey Combs.

Written by Dennis Paoli.

Directed by Stuart Gordon.

Produced for audio by Mark Redfield.

Incidental Music by Natalie Combs.

Sound Design by Jennifer Rouse.

Cover Photo by Ward Boult.

Running Time: approximately 90 minutes 
Distributed by Oasis Audio
© 2020 The Mark Redfield Company

“Now, Jeffrey Combs, star of the cult classics “Re-Animator” and “The Frighteners,” leaps into the fray with “Nevermore…” at the Steve Allen Theater. In assessing this new play, written by Dennis Paoli and directed by Stuart Gordon, it’s hard not to seem gushy.  Suffice to say that Combs’ performance is definitive, so full-blown he does not seem to be so much playing Poe as channeling him.”
- The Los Angeles Times


 

ABOUT “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”

When Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, and Jeffrey Combs made “The Black Cat” (2007) for Showtime, Gordon was struck by the uncanny performance that Jeffrey Combs created for his portrayal of Edgar Allan Poe. This began serious discussion, at Gordon’s instigation, of Combs doing a one-man show about Poe. A development and rehearsal process was embarked upon, and after Gordon and Combs selected the poems and stories of Poe’s that would be featured in the show, Gordon brought on board longtime collaborator Dennis Paoli to shape and pull the script together. Using Poe’s own words, from letters, published material, and such, Paoli gave shape to the performance. Combs brought it thunderingly to life. “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe” premiered at the Steve Allen Theatre in Los Angeles in 2009, during the Poe Bicentennial. It has since toured the United States to great acclaim. The audio book produced by Mark Redfield was recorded on Halloween Night in 2014, in Boston, before a live audience of 850 theatre-goers! 

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

JEFFREY COMBS (Edgar Allan Poe)

Jeffrey CombsJeffrey Combs has starred in over 60 films. Best known for his portrayal of Herbert West in the cult classic “Re-Animator” (1985) and its sequels. Films include “Would You Rather” (2012), “House on Haunted Hill” (1999), and many collaborations with director Stuart Gordon, including “From Beyond” (1986) , and Peter Jackson’s “The Frighteners” (1996). Television appearances include Gotham, Criminal Minds, CSI, and The 4400. He is best known for nearly 50 appearances portraying three different characters on two STAR TREK series, “Deep Space Nine” and “Enterprise”. Combs has appeared in over 75 stage productions, appearing at the Old Globe Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, Arizona Theatre Co., among many others. In 2007, director Stuart Gordon asked Jeffrey Combs to portray Edgar Allan Poe in “The Black Cat”, an episode of the Showtime series “Masters of Horror”. From this film collaboration came the genesis for the one-man stage performance “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”. Since its debut at the Steve Allen Theatre in Los Angeles, Jeffrey Combs has performed the play to acclaim all over the United States. Jeffrey dedicates this performance to the memory his sister, Jana Kay Combs-Clark.

 

 

 

 

DENNIS PAOLI (playwright)

Dennis PaoliDennis Paoli has written for film, TV, and the stage. Feature films include “Re-Animator” (1985), “From Beyond” (1986), “Dagon” (2001). Screenplays include “The Dentist” (1996), and the Masters of Horror episode “The Black Cat” (2007) for Showtime. As a playwright, works include “Bleacher Bums”, “Re-Animator The Musical”, and “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”. Mr. Paoli was a teacher and administrator at Hunter College of the City University of New York, until his retirement, having taught Gothic and Irish Literature, and 20th century drama.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STUART GORDON (director)

Stuart GordonStuart Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020) began his creative life in the Chicago theatre world. He founded The Organic Theatre in 1969. There, he and his company created electrifying theatre, and produced some of David Mamet’s earliest plays. Moving to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking, Gordon’s debut film “Re-Animator” (1985) has become a favorite with movie-goers around the world. He met and cast Jeffrey Combs in “Re-Animator”, the beginning of a life-long collaboration between the two. The screenplay was by Dennis Paoli, a dear friend from Gordon’s theatre days in the 1960s. Stuart Gordon would make films with Combs and Paoli for the rest of his life. Highlights in Stuart Gordon’s film career as a director include “Dagon”, “From Beyond”, “King of The Ants”, and David Mamet’s “Edmond”. Screenplays include “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. When given the opportunity to adapt a Poe story to Showtime’s series “Masters of Horror”, Gordon chose to adapt Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”. He gathered his long-time screenwriting partner Dennis Paoli, and actor Jeffrey Combs to play Poe. While in production, Combs and Gordon began talking about Combs doing a Poe one man show. The result, after a period of research and rehearsal, resulted in the acclaimed “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”, premiering at the Steve Allen Theatre in Los Angeles in 2009. Stuart Gordon passed away on March 24th, 2020. His films live on. This audio book production is dedicated to his memory. Without Stuart Gordon, there would be no “Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe”.

 

For PRESS Inquiries and REVIEW Inquiries
Please Contact Redfield Arts Audio at
Phone: 818-9340782
Email: redfieldartsaudio@gmail.com

Nevermore Team

(l to r) Dennis Paoli, Jeffrey Combs, and Stuart Gordon at the Edgar Allan Poe monument at Westminster Hall in Baltimore, MD.

 

© The Mark Redfield Company.