PHYSICIST, MUSICIAN, CLOWNS TAKE POE-ETIC LICENSE
Poe-Etic License
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Current date May 27th, 2023
Press Contact: Alayha Aquarian
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 310-463-4352
Poe-Etic License
Opens June 1st, 2023 at Thymele Arts in the California room
WHAT: Poe-Etic License. A Cabaret Variety show, with poetry, music, song, clown and dance. Three Poems, “The Bells”, “The Raven” and an ode to Bob Dylan, “Baltimore” a song about Poe, and “A Raven Dream” clown dance.
WHO: Written by: E.A. Poe, Dr Bobbs, Paul Zollo, Alayha Aquarian & Catherine Allison, Presented by: The Aquarian Family Circus. Directed by: Dr. Bobbs & Alayha Aquarian. Cast includes: Dr. Bradley Bobbs, Alayha Aquarian, Paul Zollo, Catherine Allison and surprise guest performers
WHERE: Thymele Arts in the California Room. 5481 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029
WHEN: PERFORMANCE DATES:
June 1, 2023 through June 24th, 2023
7 Shows in June
Preview: 1st @ 8:30PM 3rd @ 4:45PM
Run: 11th @ 4:45PM 16th @ 7:45PM 19th @ 9:45PM · 22nd @ 8:45PM · 24th @ 5:45PM
Running time: 50 minutes
TICKET PRICE: $15 – Ticket link: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9933?tab=tickets
Admission age: 18+, 13+ if accompanied by an adult.
Physicist, Musician, Clowns Take Poe-Etic License!
By day, Dr. Bradley Bobbs applies his PhD in Physics from UCLA to lead the laser ultrasonics research group at Intelligent Optical Systems in Torrance. But by night, you might catch him portraying Edgar Allan Poe — and taking poetic license with the great author’s poems.
“My big brother Don got me into acting at age 7, casting me as Gretel in a performance of “Hansel and Gretel” for a family gathering, since our little sister Wendy was too young to learn lines. She played a gingerbread girl," recalls Bobbs. “As I got older, I started memorizing children’s poems from Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh to perform solo at family functions.”
It wasn’t until he took American Lit class at Pacific Palisades High School that he read Poe. “I was hooked on Poe’s more disturbing poems, but they weren’t suitable for kids! And then, many decades later, around 2010, I got inspired one day to perform those poems for adults only.” He still performs children’s poems, and also gives public lectures on physics for non-scientists; but Poe has been a special passion for him.
With help from renowned jazz and cabaret diva Suzy Williams (of “Stormin’ Norman & Suzy” fame) in Venice, California, Bobbs put together a Poe costume and unique, passionate renditions of Poe’s poems, and started performing as Poe in a variety of shows around Los Angeles. Then in 2020, Williams’ husband Gerry Fialka, who runs an annual Bob Dylan festival in Venice, made an interesting request of Dr. Bobbs: perform in the festival as Poe reciting Dylan. “The more I thought about Gerry’s idea, the more I was intrigued by it. I spent several months rewriting Dylan’s lyrics into Poe’s style.”
This year, Bobbs decided his Poe was ready for the big time — the Hollywood Fringe Festival — where he will perform three poems in a 45-minute show. He recruited Fringe veteran Alayha Aquarian (a.k.a. PsychoDelicate the Interdimensional Travelling Clown), to produce the show, as well as perform a "Raven Dream’’ clown dance with Catherine Allison (a.k.a. cooking clown Madame Chocolat). Bobbs also recruited songwriter, photographer, and author of several books (including the “songwriter’s bible”, Songwriters on Songwriters) Paul Zollo to be Music Director and to perform his original song "Baltimore’’ about the mystery around Poe’s death.
The cast will be taking poetic license with Poe in seven performances of “Poe-Etic License” during the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
