(2017) The Cooping Theory: Who Killed Edgar Allan Poe? NYC Reviews and Tickets

“Whether you find this sort of hokum entertaining is strictly up to you…I was alternately amused and irritated, and, even with a brief eighty-minute running time, I was more than ready for it to be over long before Poe's spirit was sent back to the astral plane…The removal and/or tuning down of extraneous underscoring would help no end…I find that actors mingling with the audience come off as awfully, well, actory. Doesn't anyone encourage them to dial it down a bit?”
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"Intriguing in concept, 'The Cooping Theory' fumbles in its execution. Its pre-show supper club steeps us in the evening’s boozy mystery, but runs a little too long to serve the plot...The lengthy, quote-heavy possession sequences set the piece’s atmosphere more than they forward its narrative...Writers Suggs and Johnson offer several story lines, but never really flesh any of them out. Given the piece’s focus on theory, this may well be the point, but it reads as unfocused."
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"All of the actors commit fully, maintaining a level of energy that at times overwhelms the space but which is nonetheless commendable. The difficulty is that the piece starts at such a high level of energy, there is little place to go...The horror doesn’t fully develop into a narrative...‘The Cooping Theory’ is great fun...It’s like a ride at a theme park without the tacky. You get into your seat, go on a whirlwind trip...Everyone was smiling as they paid their checks."
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"The show contains enough Poe trivia and quotes to satiate the biggest of fans, and when the medium finally appears, the creative team gets to put on a show that ought to have chills going down our spines. And yet, there is something that never fully clicks, in between the overeagerness to please of the characters, the anachronistic synth-infused score that blasts from hidden speakers, and the anticlimactic intermission, the show deflates when it should’ve soared."
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"Under the influence of Poe’s spirit, they lose their normal inhibitions. They rave. They argue...The show could lose ten minutes and the intermission for a more powerful effect...Surely Poe, who was a master of the short story, would approve. By the end of the evening, most people will have learned little about how Poe died, but they will know a lot more about his life and times. And the lesson has been made all the more pleasant by great food, good drinks, and excellent company."
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"While it is a theatrical evening, something mysterious does happen: actors give in to Poe’s poetry entirely, which makes for some raw and intense readings of 'The Raven' and 'Annabel Lee' among others. Never had I thought of an actor as being possessed by the writer through the text, and yet I can’t find other words to describe what I saw. The beautiful, haunting soundtrack further enhances the experience, complementing Poe’s dark and restless poetry."
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"The medium is successful at contacting Poe...But what follows doesn’t ever manage to raise the stakes for any drama to unfold...At its best, 'The Cooping Theory' is an homage to Poe’s writing and a meditation on the grief mirrored in his life and his works...But the story never develops fully to make us invested in the society’s mission. Their plot feels doomed from the start. What the production does do well is set a melancholic, though inviting atmosphere."
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