Quoth the Raven: An Interview with Helen McKenna, Poe Impersonator

The hair stands up on your arm, chills run down your spine, sweat develops on your brow. You slowly realize you are scared out of your mind. And why? You’re just reading a short story… but it’s not just any short story. This short story is by Edgar Allan Poe, the late, great master of chilling tales involving murder, mystery, and dark tales. Honestly, you would be shocked to see Edgar Allan Poe sitting in a high-backed chair, answering questions about performing his works. But that’s just what happened at My Very Odd Job. Helen McKenna, a female Poe impersonator, put on her Poe face and gave us a morbidly awesome ride into his creepy world. Read on and you will not be disappointed.

Stacey: How did you first become a Poe impersonator?

Helen: I had been performing Poe’s work since I was in high school. When I was 14 years old, I memorized “The Raven.” That was the first Poe thing I did, and I always performed it as a female performing Poe’s stuff. In 1999, I was working at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site and it was the 150 anniversary of Poe’s death. I always wanted to play Poe, but I never even thought it would be a possibility. I decided to portray a woman he was engaged to, Sarah Helen Whitman; I wrote a play about her. It was a one-woman show based on her letters and memoirs and what people had said about them. Basically I did a 20-minute one-woman performance about her. The man I hired to direct was Bruce Curless (the deputy director of the Ritz Theater Co.). He and I had worked together before, so I knew we could collaborate. As he was directing this piece, he remembered I had played Ahab for a play called “Lit Candles”. He knew that I could go into gender bending if I needed to and he said, “How about playing Poe for Halloween? You could be Helen Whitman for Act I and Poe for Act II.” And I was like, “REALLY!?” That was in 1999 when I did this for the first time. I have just been running with it ever since. I really love it.

S: So, why Poe? What drew you to Poe? You said you were 14 when you memorized the Raven. You’ve just always been attracted to his writing?

H: It’s actually kind of odd because the first time I encountered Poe I was 10 years old. It was in Catholic school and the nun read “The Bells.” But she only did the first stanza, which is, you know, “Hear the sledges with the bells!” And it was rhyme, rhyme, rhyme and I just hated it. It was just another one of those goofy poems. I never looked at it again until after I had memorized “The Raven,” and I started thinking, “This guy's pretty weird.” I reread “The Bells” and I loved it! I think it’s crazy… it is crazy. It’s madness set to rhythm. It was definitely the poetry that hooked me with Poe. But why Poe? I think just hanging out with different people and they would say that Poe was a freak and drug addict and all that stuff. I was drawn to the underdog. He was the literary underdog. And it turns out half the stuff I heard was wrong!

S: When is your next Poe performance, as Poe?

It's a Mad World: Interview with David Difuntorum, Wedding Photographer

A self-described madman, David Difuntorum knows how to take an awesome photo. He can make a camera “stand up and sing,” as he says. But how did he get this gig? How did he actually become a wedding photographer? And what is the secret to a happy and lasting marriage? My Very Odd Job, aka Stacey and Joey, delves into the mind of a wedding photographer… and a madman.

Stacey: When did you start as a wedding photographer?

David: As soon as someone saw that I had a camera, they asked me to shoot a wedding. I became more serious about it when I was in Chicago when I was a freelance assistant. I’d been in the Navy as a photographer; I had done a wedding or two when I was in, but I didn’t take it seriously. I hated weddings at first because of the post-production. The way my brain works… it cannot function when faced with a large, boring task. And editing is a long boring task. I never looked for weddings, but if they came my way, I’d take the film and hand it over. I didn’t want to deal with it after that day. I found the idea of shooting a wedding… I liked it. I like people.

So I started doing them in the Navy. And I liked the pictures that came back. They weren’t great, but I liked them. But the post-production would just cloud my eyes. So sometimes I would tell people, “No, I don’t shoot weddings.” And sometimes I’d say, “Yeah, I do.” Cause I liked the money!

S: Hahaha. When did you start really focusing on weddings?

I had been in commercial photography as an assistant in Chicago for 12 years. I did a lot of world travel, met some really good guys, and I met some jerks. But I would just charge them more money!

So I did that, and then I started to shift into doing my own commercial photography. Something happened; I just couldn’t get it going. I couldn’t figure out what it took to get a business going so that I could be an artist and raise a family. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. It’s just the way my brain works; I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 30. It’s a pretty severe thing.

Some updates

Hi everyone!

We hit a tiny roadblock today. Helen McKenna is unavailable to do her interview for a little while. But we are solidering on! We have set up an interview with David Difuntorum, wedding photographer. Check out his photos here. He's so talented and an incredibly unique individual. We're honored that he is taking the time to talk to us.

We're so excited to start profiling people who make a living doing strange and interesting things!

Stay tuned!

Coming Soon: Our Very First Odd Jobber

"It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me."
-Edgar Allan Poe

We are very proud and pleased to announce that our first profile at My Very Odd Job will be Helen McKenna Uff. During the day, Helen works for the National Park Services. But sometimes at night, she portrays Edgar Allan Poe.

We are very excited to interview and photograph Helen. She seriously is one of the best Poes around and she's a she! Honestly, hearing her recite "The Bells" will bring shivers down your spine.

Have you ever wondered how one becomes a Poe impersonator? Now is your chance to find out. Stay tuned for her interview.