playbill vip

I was familiar with The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre's work from their "On the Air" radio drama productions on National Public Radio, which I thought were great, and then as fate would have it we crossed paths in 2021 when we both won Saturday Visiter Awards at the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival.

My goal with this play was to not only combine the classic elements of 'A Christmas Carol' with the most popular elements of Poe's writings, but to also tell the story of who Poe was - the human behind his much mythologized life.

I poured myself into tons of research about Poe's life - his highs and lows - and used that to speculate what Christmastime might've been like for him, especially in times where he was at his lowest.

It felt like it was meant to be when I realized that Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" had only been released in America the year prior to Poe's "The Raven." He was a fan of Dickens and it worked so well to think he was probably reading that soon-to-be Christmas classic right as he was unknowingly on the cusp of publishing the work for which he would always be known.

After putting years of work into this script, working alongside The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre to make it the best it can be, I am so incredibly excited to see their production of it. The cast looks phenomenal, the crew is pouring their all into it, and I know there is an incredible amount of passion in every piece of this show.

Zac Pensol

December 2025