Edgar Allen Poe on display in Plains

Matt Unrau

Edgar Allen Poe was a man of words and mystery. And, although, the Montana Repertory Theatre had plenty of words for Plains on Thursday they left as little mystery to the life of Poe as possible.

The group arrived in Plains, with the help of the Sanders County Arts Council and local businesses, on Thursday morning holding workshops at the high school throughout the day.

The students did different activities in a variety of classes, but it all centered on Poe. In Mrs. Cole’s art class the students painted and drew portraits and impressions of Poe and his work.

In Mr. Tatum’s English class the students created a large poster filled with words and phrases taken from Poe’s works. It was a form of word play that served as a tribute to the former word master.

It didn’t stop there as students made cookies and other snacks in Mrs. Knight’s class for the play set that night in the high school gym. The performance served as the highlight of the traveling team’s work in Plains.

The performance was acted by three performers playing the characters of Poe, the Raven and Dupin, the detective. The two side characters were two of Poe’s legendary literary characters.

It was a chaotic and mysterious 50 minute journey as the three characters worked together to try to create the detective story.

Poe began the play by saying “let us just say that there are words and there is time.” It took some time into the play before the words began to make sense as the three characters argued and hashed out Poe’s literary truth.

The performance itself proved to be an education as all three characters had their own chance to recite several of Poe’s most famous literary pieces, including perhaps most famous of all “the Raven.”

The play ended mysteriously. it resembled Poe’s real-life death, which to this day also remains a mystery. However, in this play he wasn’t forced to finish all by himself, but had his two famous characters at his side.

After the play the three characters held a question and answer session with the audience. It was the Montana Repertory Theatre’s last chance to share some more words and of course knowledge on the life and work of Edgar Allen Poe.