Sweet Tea Shakespeare actors turn the historic home into a turn-of-the-century Poe family party filled with period games, Southern ghost stories, audience participation and real Fayetteville history.
If you have ever attended a Sweet Tea Shakespeare production, you know it is never as simple as sitting and watching a play. It is a full-on experience. The company’s cast members and directors have a unique talent for breaking the fourth wall and bringing the audience completely into the story.
That is why Sweet Tea Shakespeare’s partnership with the 1897 Poe House for the upcoming Hallowe’en Revels production, “Haints and Diversions: A Poe Halloween Party,” feels like the perfect fit.
The words in the title help set the tone. A “haint” is a ghost, mischievous spirit or haunting presence, while a “diversion” was a period term for a game or entertaining activity that offered a break from ordinary life. Although diversion is often associated with distraction today, it once represented an opportunity to turn away from the everyday for a moment of entertainment, fun and, in this case, a little mischief.
Those haints and diversions become part of a turn-of-the-century Halloween story designed to bring history to life. Visitors will not simply tour the 1897 Poe House. They will enter as guests at a historically grounded Poe family Halloween party and participate as the story moves throughout the house.
The interactive format connects local history and turn-of-the-century Halloween traditions with celebrations that continue today.
Imagine entering the 1897 Poe House, perhaps even dressed in a period-inspired Halloween costume. After being greeted by a guide, guests will move from room to room, meeting and interacting with members of the Poe family and other people connected to them. Along the way, they will participate in Halloween activities and traditions while hearing ghost stories rooted in Southern and North Carolina history.
“It’s kind of like theater meets living history,” museum educator Mary Cooper said.
The annual Hallowe’en Revels program will be presented Oct. 16-17 and Oct. 29-30 at the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex. Developed in partnership with Sweet Tea Shakespeare, the approximately 45-minute guided production will feature more audience participation than previous Hallowe’en Revels presentations.
One important distinction: This Poe is not Edgar Allan Poe. E.A. Poe was a prominent Fayetteville businessman and owner of the Poe Brick Company. The production imagines how a family such as the Poes might have celebrated Halloween during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It does not claim that this specific party historically occurred.
This year’s production focuses more directly on historical Halloween traditions and a younger period in the Poe family’s life. Actors will portray real Poe family members and historical figures connected to them. The format also gives guests more opportunities to participate instead of simply watching the story unfold.
“It’s a different story every year,” business officer Stephen Thompson said.
The production is supported by research into Victorian- and Edwardian-era Halloween activities, decorations and costumes, along with Southern ghost stories, North Carolina folklore and relationships within the Poe family. Sweet Tea Shakespeare’s experience with audience interaction allows that research to become something guests can experience instead of information delivered during a traditional historic-house tour.
As a complete and total history buff, I love the idea of becoming part of a historical story. However, not everyone responds to history in the same way. Hallowe’en Revels gives visitors an opportunity to see how people from another period celebrated, played and entertained one another, and why their lives were not quite as removed from ours as they may seem.
“Just because it’s history doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been fun, and it wouldn’t have been entertaining,” Cooper said.
The production was created with families in mind. There are no jump scares and no actors waiting around corners; this is not a haunted house. It does include ghost stories, fortune-telling and historically rooted supernatural themes, so parents should consider their children’s individual comfort levels. Some characters represent Poe children around ages 10 to 12, reflecting the younger period of the family’s life explored in the story.
Tours begin at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. each evening and are limited to 15 guests per time slot. Tickets are $10 per person and must be purchased in advance. Walk-up sales will not be available. Tickets can be purchased at https://bit.ly/4jjpOq4.
Guests will check in at the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex, 801 Arsenal Ave., before being escorted to the Poe House by their guide. The experience requires approximately 45 minutes of walking and standing, and guests will use stairs. The second floor of the Poe House is not wheelchair accessible. The museum gift shop will be open before and after each tour.
Cooper hopes guests leave the Poe House with a different understanding of what learning about the past can feel like.
“I definitely want them to go through and say, ‘Wow, history is exciting,’” she said.