Featured Plays
October Reading List: Mystery Plays
Ready to add a little mystery to your drama classroom? We’ve put together a list of plays full of secrets, twists, and unexpected turns that are sure to captivate your students. Whether they’re...
Shuddersome: Tales of Poe
adapted by Lindsay Price from Edgar Allan Poe
The thumping of a heartbeat. The creak of a door. The howl of a bitter wind. The gong of a clock tower. The clang of alarm bells. The sound of beating wings getting closer and closer…
Specters, ghosts and ghouls come alive in this vivid theatrical adaptation of some of Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known works. Included are The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Masque of the Red Death.
Poe’s words rise from the page like corpses from the grave. Be careful. Do you hear that tap, tap, tapping?
Multi-length versions of the script to fit every need.
Average Producer Rating:
Recommended for High Schools and Middle Schools
Running Time
About 45 minutes
Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes
Cast
34 Characters
4 M5 F25 Any Gender, Doubling Possible
Set
Simple Set
Length
51 pages
Production Tips
Free Excerpt
Classroom Study Guide
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Performance Royalty Fees
Royalty fees apply to all performances whether or not admission is charged. Any performance in front of an audience (e.g. an invited dress rehearsal) is considered a performance for royalty purposes.
Exemption details for scenes and monologues for competition.
34 Characters
4 M, 5 F, 25 Any Gender, Doubling Possible
4 M, 5 F, 25 Any Gender, Doubling Possible
Characters in this play are currently identified as male or female. Directors are welcome to assign any gender (binary or non-binary) to any character and modify pronouns accordingly.
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Old
[M]
24 lines
The Young
[M]
75 lines
Police One
[A]
9 lines
Police Two
[A]
10 lines
The Shudders
[A]
54 lines
Ensemble
The Bells
Silver One
[A]
6 lines
Silver Two
[A]
5 lines
Silver Three
[A]
2 lines
Gold One
[A]
7 lines
Gold Two
[A]
4 lines
Gold Three
[A]
4 lines
Brass One
[A]
9 lines
Brass Two
[A]
8 lines
Brass Three
[A]
8 lines
Iron One
[A]
16 lines
Iron Two
[A]
14 lines
Icon Three
[A]
11 lines
The Shudders
[A]
22 lines
Ensemble
The Oval Portrait
Painter
[M]
0 lines
Extensive mime
Picture Lady
[F]
0 lines
Extensive mime
Young Lady
[F]
0 lines
Extensive mime
Soul Suckers (x2)
[A]
0 lines
Extensive mime
The Shudders
[A]
0 lines
Ensemble
The Raven
One
[A]
38 lines
Two
[A]
38 lines
Three
[A]
38 lines
Four
[A]
37 lines
Five
[A]
36 lines
The Shudders
[A]
12 lines
Ensemble; You can have many more Individual Speakers for this poem. Feel free to divide the lines among more speakers.
The Masque of the Red Death
Narrator One
17 lines
Narrator Two
17 lines
Narrator Three
16 lines
Guest One
21 lines
Guest Two
21 lines
Guest Three
16 lines
Prince
15 lines
The Spectre
Extensive mime
The Shudders
[A]
25 lines
Ensemble
Lionizing
Robert Jones
[M]
42 lines
Father
[M]
15 lines
Mother
[F]
1 line
The Artist
[F]
9 lines
The Duchess
[F]
11 lines
The Countess
[F]
7 lines
The Marquis
[M]
4 lines
The Prince
[M]
15 lines
The Elector
[F]
4 lines
The Shudders
[A]
Ensemble
Praise for Shuddersome: Tales of Poe
Beth Goodwin
Central High School Drama Club
I loved the adaptation of the stories! We performed this at the Maine Principals Association Regional Drama festival and won! The Shudders are an effective way to enhance the stories and we received a judge's commendation for their roles, along with an all festival cast nod for the student who played “Young" and a lighting award. This play was our first horror and we had an amazing time with it.
Jeffrey Ott
York Jr High School
My students loved the show and really got into it.
Laurianna May
Fleming School
This was a super fun and challenging play!
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Shuddersome: Tales of Poe
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