Shuddersome: Tales of Poe

Hosted by Spokane Civic Theatre

Shuddersome is a stage adaptation that pulls Edgar Allan Poe's best-known work into one evening — the creeping dread of "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Raven," "The Masque of the Red Death" and company, played out by a cast that shifts between narrators and the haunted souls in the stories. It leans on atmosphere more than gore, the kind of production where lighting, sound and a good silence do most of the heavy lifting. Good pick if you like your theatre a little unsettling, and it plays well for older kids who've read Poe in class. Civic is the longtime community theatre here, a place built around sharing live work — onstage, backstage and in the seats — with a season that runs from musicals to darker fare like this one. It's an easy, welcoming room, and it works just as well for a date night as it does for a group.