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?


H: I will be performing as Edgar at Allaire Historic Village the first Friday and Saturday in October. I will also be portraying Poe for the Edgar Allan Poe House at the end of October. I don’t know the exact date yet, but we’ll be celebrating “The Raven” especially. A group called the GS-9s will be performing music inspired by Poe.

S: How often do you perform as Poe?

H: This year, hardly at all. But last year was the bicentennial of his birth, so I got around a bit. I portrayed Helen Whitman a couple of times, too. We had a reburial for Poe. The Baltimore Poe Museum decided to give Poe the funeral they should have given him 100 plus years after the fact, so they invited me to come as Helen Whitman. I performed as Helen Whitman for them a couple of times. I don’t portray Poe as much as I would like. It is a lot of work for costuming. The makeup, especially the spirit gum, is rough on my skin. In a perfect world, I don’t know how often I would do it. Maybe once or twice a month would be cool.

S: Is there more of a demand around Halloween?

H: Oh, absolutely. I try to remind people that he had a birthday, too. It was in January!

S: I vividly remember you reading “The Bells” when I went and saw you when I was a teenager. It was in a church?

H: The Unitarian Church, yeah. It’s a shame that that place burned down. It was a beautiful church.

S: I mean, vividly. I had to be 13 or 14!

H: And that’s when I wasn’t doing it as Edgar.

S: When did you realize you could pass as Poe? Did you just think, “Hey I kind of look like him?”

H: I never thought that I kind of looked like Poe. But now that I play him, I see it! When Bruce suggested that I play Poe, I thought “Eh… How am I going to do this?” He coached me a little bit about standing and body movement and then he directed the makeup and all. I’ve tweaked it a lot since then. I’ve had to thin out the wig. After a couple years, I thought, “His hair is a lot thinner than this!” It’s been finessed over time.

Joey: Where do you get an outfit to be Edgar Allan Poe? You can’t just buy it from a store I’d imagine.

H: Around the corner! The Tuxedo Rental. This is an old, beat up tuxedo jacket, right off the rack. The pants are mine, but now they’re my Edgar Pants. These are my shoes too, but I decided that they would work for Poe.

J: I would have thought it was made for you.

H: Actually, I had to break down and have stuff made. The vest and the shirt were actually made for me to be Poe. The same costumer made my Helen Whitman outfit. That’s huge, purple taffeta with the hoop skirt, all custom.

S: What’s your favorite memory from being Poe?

H: Wow… hard question. I would have to say that first time out. I had that whole stage to myself and it was the set for “The Man of La Mancha.” I portrayed Helen Whitman for Act I and we had a big curtain to hide the set. And then it’s intermission and within 10 minutes, I had become Poe. It was a pretty challenging turnover. But then that set was phenomenal! There was an enormous staircase in the middle of the set, dominating it. First Poe’s complaining because he’s not getting the respect he deserves, and then he recited “The Raven.” Then I walked over to this, like, fire pit. It was just phenomenal! And of course, it was a whole theater just for me. Haha! It seats about 300, and I’m sure we didn’t have anything near that at that performance.

It was so terrifying. The idea of being on stage, by myself, for an entire evening. And I found out later on that I really like walking through terror. I just think it’s really fun to challenge yourself to the absolute nth degree. And that’s because I’d never done it before. It was absolutely terrifying, but at the same time, really exhilarating.

S: What’s your least favorite memory of being Poe?

H: I can’t think of anything that was horrible...

Well, two different things. Usually, people respond very positively. There was one venue I was at and there were some teenage kids playing around. There were maybe three of them and they were just making noise. I don’t know what they were doing. I walked over, in character, and I can’t remember what I said. But it was just weird… it wasn’t fun. I don’t know how I would handle it differently today.
I’ve only had a bad feeling twice. The other was another venue and I had travelled kind of far for it. The lighting wasn’t great and the audience was very quiet. They were obviously more interested in their family members that were going to be coming out soon. So I was the warm-up. People were just not ready for me, so I got a lot of critical looks.

J: Does that affect your performance? When you see something like that going on, is it hard to stay in character?

H: No. You know, I’ve been doing it so much, the distractions are nothing. Sometimes I can get a little panic-y. “What am I saying?” “Did I say that right?” “Will I get cotton mouth?” Something like that will scare me or distract me. That’s what happens to me. When I am portraying Helen Whitman, she’s very spiritual and happy. I can just pause and put a big smile on my face when there are audience distractions. When I am portraying Poe, it depends on what piece I’m doing, or what’s coming up, or what piece I’m in. If I am doing “Tell Tale Heart,” I can pause and give a sinister, silent look. Sometimes I think that those experiences can enhance the performance because it’s real and immediate.

S: What’s your favorite poem to perform?

H: “The Raven.” It is a little challenging and it’s really long, but I believe it’s very Shakespearean. As an actor, it’s just great. You’re telling a story, but you’re telling it in verse. The verse is so controlled, that the emotion just haunts you. It’s just great.

S: You also play Helen Whitman, who do you prefer playing?

H: Edgar, by far. But because I have so much more of a record of her feelings that it’s a much more developed script. I love portraying Helen; there’s just certain pieces of Poe that I love performing more. When I first started portraying Helen, it was “Let me get this Helen Whitman thing out of the way, so I can do my Poe thing!” Now I really enjoy playing her. It’s neat.

S: Do any male Poes discriminate against you, being female?

H: I met up with a lot of people for Halloween who were male transvestites. They were having a little difficulty with it. I guess they thought I didn’t do it manly enough. It was kind of funny. They are all about costume and makeup!

S: Did anyone ever hit on you while you’ve been in character?

H: Oh god… Not that I recall!

S: What’s the piece of Poe trivia that you get tired of repeating over and over again?

H: Hm. Well, I think just the challenge of challenging people’s beliefs. They walk in thinking they know all about Edgar Allan Poe and they really don’t. The myth of Poe being a constant drunk… he couldn’t write when he was drinking. We have volumes of really great writing, so obviously he wasn’t drinking when he wrote them. That’s one of the most irritating things. What’s even more irritating is when they tell you he was doing all sorts of drugs that didn’t even exist when he was alive. That gets… I don’t want to say I get tired of it. What I get tired of are the people who combat you with it. For some reason they think they know it and they don’t! I try not to “go there,” but that can get a little old.

S: If you could impersonate anyone else besides Poe, who would it be?

H: Well you know I work as a park ranger at Independence National Historic Park, so I think… I could do Lincoln!

S: You would be an awesome Lincoln!

H: Then I think George Washington… because he was big in the hips! Haha! I love Washington and he was extremely manly, so there’s no way I could do him. But what a great character! He’s all about character; he was an amazing man.

S: You said “The Raven” was your favorite Poe poem, do you have a favorite Poe work?

H: I would have to say “The Cask of Amontillado.”

S: Poe was paid $9 for “The Raven,” which is about $200 today. Underpaid? Overpaid?

H: Oh, grossly underpaid. Absolutely. They made a whole Vincent Price movie out of it!

S: Who is your favorite person to see perform Poe?

H: David Keltz. He’s out of Baltimore. He’s terrific. He’s got a lot of the nuances. And then there’s Harry Lee Poe, who is a descendant of one of Poe’s cousins. There’s great similarity and even though he wasn’t performing his works, he was talking about the family. It was like watching Poe. It was amazing. But as a performer, David Keltz is my favorite.

S: How does your husband feel about you dressing up as a man?

H: Do you want to ask him?

S: Uncle Val, how do you feel about your wife dressing up as Poe?

Val: I try to disassociate myself from the fact that it’s my wife. When she’s performing, I enjoy the performance. I don’t like being kissed by her afterwards or I don’t like the lead up or the breaking down too much. It weirds me out a little bit. When she’s up there in character, I am touched by every performance. I’ve seen her a hundred times and I’ve seen her rehearsing just to me and I still love to hear it. I still go to it all the time. I fall in love with her every time.

S: What’s the story with the descendant of Poe? I didn’t realize he had descendants.

H: Poe himself never had children and neither did his brother or sister, so that line died out. So Harry Lee Poe is actually a descendant of one of Poe’s cousins. Harry Poe is a professor of religion at Union University in Tennessee. For Poe’s bicentennial especially, he was being sought after a lot. I asked him to speak at the Poe House. He focuses a lot on Poe’s “Eureka,” which is Poe’s explanation of how the universe started and how it will end. It’s actually rather religious and spiritual, so it’s natural for a professor of religion to study it. But as a member of the family, they have family traditions that were passed down. So most of the time, he is not asked to talk about “Eureka” so much, as he is asked to talk about the family. He’s very good.

I got to meet him when he spoke for us for the International Poe Conference in Philadelphia. I got to spend a little time with him and get to know him. He’s a wonderful man. He was very charming and gracious. I imagine Poe would have been a lot like him.

J: I actually read somewhere that there’s a tug of war about where Poe belongs, Philadelphia or Baltimore. Do you have an opinion?

H: Let me give you the background on that. Philadelphia City Paper called me and said “We’re doing a piece called ‘We’re taking Poe back.’ Do you know any Poe actors?” And I said, “Yes, that would be me!” Haha! So at 10 at night in the summer, I met the photographer and the staff of the City Paper on Columbus Boulevard. I posed as Poe in the trunk of the car in an empty parking lot. I am also quoted in the article that started the whole thing. Ed Pettit, he’s the author of the article, wrote this really great scholarly article arguing that Poe’s greatest works and inspirations came in Philadelphia, so we should be able to lay claim to him. It was really fresh, the idea of Philadelphia Gothic as a genre, which is being recognized by scholars now. He did a great thing and Poe would have been very impressed with it. So it started the great Poe debate in various cities, whatever city you’re in, that one wins.

S: What’s your favorite thing to tell people about Poe? Those bits of information that you love watching people’s reactions when they hear it.

H: Two things I get excited by. One is a piece of scholarship I came across during the Second International Poe Conference; I met a scholar, Major William Hecker, who tragically died in Iraq. Hecker was a professor at West Point. He did a lot of research into Poe’s military career, which nobody had really looked at properly. Poe’s grandfather was a deputy quartermaster. Many biographers just put it together that Poe was doing what his grandfather was doing, which they thought was clerical. What Poe was actually doing was artificer, packing bombs. He was calculating how much powder, how long a fuse, would go into each canister depending on what kind of explosion you wanted. He had all this massive knowledge of math and science. They actually promoted him to Sergeant Major and he got to that rank in 19 months. It would normally take 20 years at that time to get to that rank. They were obviously extremely impressed with him. They said you made a mistake, you should go to West Point. His adoptive family knew a US Senator, so he got into West Point. Hecker demonstrates that Poe took that same mathematical approach and applied it to his poetry. He would calculate exactly where the explosion in the poety would take place.

My other is “Eureka” which is Poe trying to figure out the universe and God.

J: I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought I did! I knew Poe was a fascinating character, but I guess I didn’t realize how fascinating.

H: One thing I’ve learned from working at historic sites for 17 years is that any life is fascinating, if you look deeply enough. If you can get enough information, every life is absolutely fascinating. And of course, if you have a passion for finding out that stuff, then hopefully you can convey it in a way that’s interesting to people. I work with people who are experts in all kinds of odd little things. It’s really wonderful.

S: If you could study anybody besides Poe, who would it be?

H: By choice? Oh, I hesitate to talk about it because I don’t want to jinx it. I love Eleanora Duse, who is, some say, the actress who inspired Stanislavski to create “The Method” for method acting. She was a 19th century actress from Italy who refused to wear makeup because she wanted you to see the color in her face. She wanted you to see the emotions registering on stage. Sarah Bernhardt was the opposite of that, very mannered. You could see her performance and it would be the same every night. Duse was really passionate about being absolutely in the moment. I would love to see somebody do a real screenplay about Bernhardt and Duse.

S: There’s been a lot of Poe references in pop culture. What’s is your favorite Poe reference?

H: Oh my God! I love The Simpsons’ version of “The Raven” on “Treehouse of Horror.” I can’t think of one portrayal of Poe I like better or interpretation, in terms of popular culture. I actually was giving a tour of the Poe House and talking about “The Raven.” I asked, “Has anyone seen The Simpsons’ version of ‘The Raven’?” I said, “You know the part where Bart says, ‘You know what would have been more frightening than nothing?’ and Lisa says, ‘What?’ and he says, ‘ANYTHING!’” Then I quoted another joke, “Maybe because it was 1845, people were more easily scared back then.” So I used both of those jokes. There was this couple on the tour that kept elbowing each other and laughing. When we got to the end, I said to them, “You know, when I was talking about The Simpsons, you guys really had some reactions there. What’s going on with that?” And he said, “Well, I am actually one of the principal writers for The Simpsons. I really had hardly anything to do with that episode; I came in at the end to break it up with some jokes. You actually used both of my jokes!” It was really cool.

Something else that I just think is so funny is something by Scott Thompson called “The Poe Rangers.” He’s a local guy. It’s just hilarious. I would love to screen it for an event some time.

S: Anything else you would like to impart to other Poe impersonators?

H: No, not at all!

And so ends the tale of Helen McKenna, a female Poe in a male Poe world. She was very gracious and lovely, while being very Poe-like. Be sure to check out her upcoming performances in October.

Edgar Allan Poe's Complete Poetical Works