POE is a musical about the importance of simple human connections. Set in Richmond, Philadelphia and New York during the magazine boom of the mid-nineteenth century, POE tells the story of a man driven by love, and a need to bury his personal demons through works of sensation and horror.   Edgar Allan Poe struggles with prioritizing his burgeoning fame against his responsibilities to his family.

Poe embarks on his journey toward fortuneless fame with his young wife, Virginia and her prudent mother, Maria. Virginia, a selfless optimist, offers unyielding love and support during Poe’s darkest moments only to realize she has little place in his life once he finds some success. Maria unrelentingly reminds Poe of his family’s material needs while he wagers their financial security on a chance at literary fame.

Edgar’s tales of the macabre and public drunken behavior cement his reputation as a brilliant madman.  But as Edgar’s popularity elevates to celebrity, Virginia falls mortally ill and is physically unable to share in the “success” for which she has sacrificed so much. Her slow slide toward death tests the connections of family and the faithfulness of love.

Virginia’s death pushes Poe into an incapacitating madness and poverty from which he never recovers. The end of Edgar’s life unearths an uplifting realization: Fame and achievement are pale in comparison to the simple beauty of a loving human connection.

POE brings to the stage the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s most influential writers. It begins as Edgar embarks on his writing career and follows him until his untimely death in 1849. His writings are integral to the story, but the focus is his life and how it inspired his work.