Hobnob Theatre Company is polishing its Poe for a stab at a Halloween horror show.

“Edgar Allan Poe: Tales of the Grotesque,” an original play written by Eric Cook, will play Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Butler County Community College’s Succop Theater.

“We decided that Edgar Allan Poe would be an appropriate subject for our Halloween-weekend production, and so we started reviewing scripts from the typical sources,” said Ken Smith, director.

Ken and his wife Liz, founders of the theater company, wanted a show that encompassed the life of Poe, but their target was elusive. So they asked their friend, historian and English school teacher Cook, if he would be willing to work with them on a script based on Poe’s life and works, and he agreed, Smith said.

After an intense process with their playwright, the trio came up with a production that satisfied them all.

“I believe that our working script is a dramatic and faithful representation of Poe’s life and works, and that audiences will be intrigued and entertained,” Smith said.

The playwright Cook drew his inspiration from Poe’s own writings not just his works, but also his editorials, reviews and private correspondence.

“I also found inspiration in the idea of Romantic Realism. This is a prism through which other critics have led me to view Poe’s writing style,” Cook said.

“What it boils down to for me is that, we have these gory, gothic, horror tales, tales that are full of improbabilities, and yet they reveal to the reader deep truths about human nature and themselves,” he said.

Cook is originally from Worthington but now resides in Medicine Lake, Mont., where he teaches English literature and composition.

Because Poe never wrote successfully for the stage, the show presented Cook with some challenges.

“I wanted his voice to predominate. The vast majority of lines in this play came as directly from Poe’s pen as possible,” said Cook, who said he endeavored to read every word Poe wrote that scholars gathered and published, both in print and online.

In the play, Poe meets a mysterious stranger in a seedy tavern and begins a conversation that both reveals and changes his views on poetry, love and death.

As Poe shares several of his short stories and poems, the audience explores the struggle and the melancholy, the horror and the grotesque of his life and work.

Justin Anderson of Butler is playing Poe. “This is the first time I’ve ever portrayed a real life person. I want to do the role justice,” said Anderson.

“The intrigue was instantly there once I learned of the show about Poe. The man was brilliant, and his life story consists of so many tragic moments that helped make his writing so powerful,” Anderson said.

Poe’s wife Virginia Clemm is being played by 16-year-old Abigail Gumpper, a junior at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School.

She said she thinks her connection with the mother/daughter dynamic is what helps her make this role work.

“Even though Virginia lived in the 1800s, her dynamic with her mother is very much like ours today. The battling, sass and care that is shown between them is something that many teenagers would understand, even though the circumstances are a bit different,” Abigail said.

Through the role, Abigail said she is learning what it is like to be blinded by love.

“This role has presented to me many challenges. It’s the first time I’m playing someone that really lived, someone real. It’s hard to try to give this person truth and to show them the way they were,” she said.

Casey Bowser of Butler is endeavoring to tackle the complex role of Mr. Toller.

“Toller works as Poe’s motivation, offering Poe support while he crafts some of his most famous works,” said Bowser.

“My character specifically is most certainly a work in progress from both the aspect of it being an original piece and to my job of bringing life to the part,” he said.

“I enjoy trying new things on stage.”

Bowser said he enjoys being part of the polishing process of the piece. “Being a part of an original work is exciting and one of my draws to the project,” he said.

Other actors playing a part in bringing this “Poe” to life include Alison Carey as Mrs. Maria Clemm, with other parts played by Jeff Arnold, Phil Ball, Amy Cannard, Megan Flannery, Brianna Herr, Thom Hilliard, Whitney Anne Jenkins, Chris Lilley, Kevin Lukacs, Lorraine Martin, Bob Meals and Eric Snyder.