Darryl Maximilian Robinson Notes His 1990s The Raven And Six Other Points of Interest Adaptation

 

SHARING NOTES ON AN ADAPTATION OF "THE RAVEN AND SIX OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST" BY EDGAR ALLAN POE!:

 

 

ON THE WEST COAST, theatregoers have seen veteran and award-winning Chicago-born and stage-trained actor Darryl Maximilian Robinson appear in numerous roles onstage during his 14 years as a City of Angels thespian. He has garnered critical praise for his performances as Major-General Stanley in "The Pirates of Penzance," District Attorney Flint in "Night of January 16th," Booker T. Washington in "Ragtime," Butler John Lawless in "The Happiest Millionaire" and Henry Albertson in "The Fantasticks." And, most recently, he appeared as Chicago Tribune Newspaper Reporter Roy V. Bensinger in the 2024 Culver City Public Theatre revival production of "The Front Page."

 

But long before he performed in The City of Angels he was an actor, adaptor and play director of literary classics on stage in Louisville, Kentucky, St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois.

 

 

 

With the first series of performances in 1990, at The Rudyard Kipling Pub in Louisville, Kentucky and The Midtown Arts Center of St. Louis, Missouri, Darryl Maximilian Robinson, a veteran and award-winning stage actor and play director, became known for his theatrical adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's works, including The Raven and Six Other Points of Interest. 

 

 

 

This production was first staged by Excaliber Productions, Ltd. in Louisville, Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri, and later multiple times by The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago, both of which Robinson founded. 

 

 

The adaptation combines Poe's poetic and narrative works, showcasing his mastery of gothic literature.

 

 

 

 

Darryl Maximilian Robinson's dedication to bringing classic literature to life on stage has earned him critical acclaim.

 

 

"It's wonderful that people like actor-adapter-director Darryl Maximilian Robinson recognize Edgar Allan Poe's dramatic potential -- his mastery of dark, suspenseful narrative -- and bring his chilling poetry and prose to the stage. " -- Kim Wilson, The Chicago Reader, Nov. 4, 1999.  

 

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/the-raven-and-six-other-points-of-interest/

 

 

 

 

 

"If the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in Old Town were still open, Excaliber director and actor Darryl Maximilian Robinson would probably get his own wing. He's the kind of deliciously melodramatic elocutionist who disappeared about a century ago, after doing declamatory readings of "the classics" on every vaudeville stage and in every state fair tent in the northern hemisphere. Performing selected works of Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven and Six Other Points of Interest, Robinson has got it all down pat: the clipped diction, the grand gestures ( he doesn't sit down, he swoops down ), the quivering, orotund voice drenched in a Barrymore-esque accent, even the full-length purple smoking jacket. Yet his chocolate-brown skin, bald head, and dancerly grace add an unexpected sensuality to his persona. If Alistair Cooke had given birth to Isaac Hayes' son, he would have turned out an awful lot like Robinson." -- Justin Hayford, The Chicago Reader, Nov. 9, 1995.

 

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/the-raven-and-six-other-points-of-interest-2/

 

 

 

 

Now celebrating more than 50 years as an American Stage Performer, actor, adaptor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson, Founder of the multiracial chamber theatres Excaliber Productions Ltd. ( St. Louis ), The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago and The Excaliber Shakespeare Company Los Angeles Archival Project, was most recently named a winner of a 2022 Making The World Happening Award for his numerous online theatre-related offerings at Allevents.in and a 2024 Broadwayworld Los Angeles Award nomination for Best Supporting Performer In A Play for his performance as Chicago Tribune Newspaper Reporter Roy V. Bensinger in the 2024 Culver City Public Theatre revival production of Ben Hecht's and Charles MacArthur's The Front Page presented outdoors at Carlson Memorial Park in Culver City, California. Several video segments of Mr. Robinson's work in literary classic speeches and poems can currently be viewed at his YouTube channel.

 

https://youtu.be/mwwqsV8y3d4?si=Ge1wZUzSgcVTf_bq

https://youtu.be/AN_zwpUa2iY?si=Ghc_v-HyS1xLEJaU

https://youtu.be/1YitfFuBIZs?si=w5YMLbfNuMINdCxr

https://youtu.be/RGhHQus9inM?si=MjFRJeX23fq-l5IP

https://theatreblogofdarrylmaximilianrobinson.blogspot.com/2025/03/darryl-maximilian-robinson-provides.html

 

 

 

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