Haunted Poe Cabaret & Doll-Crafting Workshop

Thu., June 25, 1-3 p.m. (workshop), 9-10:30 p.m. (cabaret), $5-$25, The Latvian Society, 531 N. Seventh St., 215-627-2577, bratproductions.org.

by Lauren Fleming

[ style/performing arts ]

This time around? To whet your appetite for the upcoming play Haunted Poe, Brat Productions is holding a cabaret and doll-crafting workshop that focus on a less-commonly explored part of Poe's life: women.

In the workshop, Dame Darcy (pictured) will show students how to mold, sculpt, paint and sew their very own Lenores ("The Raven"), Virginia Clemms and Madeline Ushers ("The Fall of the House of Usher").But Darcy insists that they don't have to be perfect replicas. "What I love about doing doll-making workshops is that it brings out everyone's inner psychology," she says. "They become a therapeutic way to think about yourself and become a little representation of who you are, as well."

Darcy, along with a troupe of actors, comics, musicians and an impersonator, will also perform songs and routines for the cabaret. Some of the acts are pulled directly from Haunted Poe, which will utilize a 10,000-square-foot warehouse to explore the writer's works, from "The Black Cat" to "The Masque of the Red Death," when it premieres in full in October.

And if that's not enough: Top it off with a visit to the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, which is right across the street.

Thu., June 25, 1-3 p.m. (workshop), 9-10:30 p.m. (cabaret), $5-$25, The Latvian Society, 531 N. Seventh St., 215-627-2577, bratproductions.org.