Festival Program and Events

Tim Beasley  appearing  as  E. A. Poe, Master of Ceremonies

Tim Beasley returns! His national entertainment company, Vegas Tributes, provides Variety Tribute Performances with over 100+ different “celebrity impersonations” from Music, Movies, TV, Politics, History and Literature. Celebrating 33 years of entertaining coast to coast!

Calixta Starr

Calixta Starr is an award-winning theatrical fusion artist from NY.  Her unique storytelling style has been featured in numerous stage shows, dance festivals and pop culture conventions. Don’t miss her interpretation of Masque of the Red Death.

Four actors bring the stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe to life in this immersive performance. Morella, a story Poe wrote while in Baltimore, follows one woman’s quest to outlive herself through occult means. The title character marries the narrator and conceives a child with him, dying in childbirth. The infant lives and as she grows raises questions about whether Morella ever actually left the earth. Both sound and motion distill the inner lives of the characters in this uniquely strange series of events.

The Concert Truck began with a bold and rebellious vision: to take quality, live classical performances out of concert halls and into unexpected public spaces. Pianists, Nick Luby and Susan Zhang, converted a 16-foot box truck into a fully functioning mobile concert hall, complete with lights, sound system, and piano. Since then, they have performed across the country in schools, parks, shelters... anywhere you can think to park a truck. 

Half Light Theatre specializes in performances in unique and often historical locations. With all new adaptations of favorite Poe stories and poems told through original music, dance and performances from their new show, “Nevermore...an Evening of Edgar Allan Poe”, the company is thrilled to bring you musical excerpts and Poe-etries from the show.  Half Light Theatre’s mission is to reflect the human condition through a medley of performing arts that challenge, entertain and resonate with live audiences.  In the process of bringing works to the public, Half Light aspires to treat Performers, Vendors, technicians and audience members with respect, integrity, and a shared sense of the essential human need for art and expression. Half light refers to the excitement and mystery felt by the audience when the house lights dim for the beginning of a performance.  

Proceeds from all  beer sales festival weekend benefit Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum. The final hour of the festival Saturday is the RavenBeer "Unhappy Hour" (and also, last call.) Sadly, prices are the same, but proceeds also benefit Richmond Poe Museum. Raise a pint for Poe!  

The Poe Museum (Richmond) presents a Sad Poetry Contest

Poe Museum is excited to bring the famed “Unhappy Hour” to Baltimore for the International Poe Festival. Join us for a classic theatrical reading from Poe’s works, and round out the day with a Sad Poetry Contest (bring your own wailers!) It’s a miserable time...

Poehemia

Celtic Rock and loads mair! Poehemia has been shaped by the hard rocking traditions of Baltimore and the thriving music scene in Glasgow. We wanted musicians capable of playing multiple styles at a very high level of musicianship. We loved the idea of honouring our shared Celtic heritage while still offering a variety of music. Since 2012 Poehemia has performed hundreds of high-energy electric and acoustic shows at pubs, wineries, breweries, festivals, and special events throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Baltimore City Pipe Band will honor the eve of Poe’s Death Day and close the festival. The bagpipe and drum corps is a non-competing band made of private individuals dedicated to the enjoyment and preservation of Scottish Bagpipe music. The band performs at a variety of events to include parades, dances, charitable and social functions, and community festivals in Baltimore and throughout Maryland.

Ticketed event. Location: Carroll Mansion, 800 E. Lombard St., 11AM - 4PM

Jericho Vinegar Works presents an interactive art installation at the historic Carroll Mansion, where Poe’s body and casket lie in state in a re-enactment of the dark and somber day Poe was laid to rest. More details.

Ticketed event. Location: Westminster Hall & Burying Ground, 519 W. Fayette, enter cemetery at the corner of Fayette and Greene Streets. 7:30 PM

 The official party of Poe Fest International! Join us for a fantastical masquerade of the senses and grave-side toast to Poe. More details.

Ticketed event. Location: Poe’s Magic Theater at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, 20 W. Baltimore St. Mezzanine, doors open at 11:30 PM.

End the evening with a little magic and mystery with host, Vince Wilson. Visit PoesMagic.com for tickets & details.

FREE admission. Location: Discover Auditorium at University of Maryland BioPark, 1st Floor, 801 West Baltimore Street. 2:30 PM

97th Annual Commemorative Program: “Strange Topographies: The Conundrums of Space in the Later Works of Edgar Allan Poe” presented by Joshua Lundy (Univ. of S. Carolina) Visit EAPoe.org for more details.