I love a tight adaptation. And Monica Cross delivers a fantastic take on Poe’s classic. It carries with it every bit of dread from the short story, but in today’s pandemic world, it is a biting commentary on the excesses of a society that believes themselves untouchable by the plague.

Monica Cross has written a brilliant adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's famous short story. Considering the original has exactly one paragraph of spoken text, she had to do some heavy lifting to convert the all-descriptive prose story into a stage play. The result is a seamless retelling that adds some clever humor to a horrifying and (sadly) relevant tale that still resonates today.
It's also a dream assignment for a set designer, lighting designer and makeup artist. Someone get this on a stage near me!

What a swell party this is!

A tight adaptation that's also a sharp critique of how entitlement blinds the privileged to profoundly destructive acts of nature. But how sorry can you feel for people who can't be bothered to avoid a plague like it's a plague!

Blithely funny then bone-crawlingly creepy, this play is great for virtual theater (how I saw it), would be doubly effective on stage, and perhaps exponentially effective as an immersive experience! (Somebody, do that!)

Cross has allowed for great freedom in casting, so go to town! Oh wait, you can't! There's a plague...