Kyle Kellams: Because it's Wednesday, and because we love talking with Becca, it is time to go the other way with Becca Martin Brown. Becca, how is your October faring so far?
Becca Martin Brown: It's been a great October so far, and today will be great because we get to talk about theater with an old friend that we both know — and it's some pretty exciting theater at that.
Kyle Kellams: And it's some pretty exciting theater at that.
Becca Martin Brown: It is. We're going to talk to Justin Fletcher, who is playing Edgar Allan Poe in the new Arkansas Classical Theatre production The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story, which is being presented at Headquarters House in Fayetteville.
Kyle Kellams: Yeah, I don't know if I'd say it's immersive, but it kind of is. You're in the set, and it's in different rooms.
Well, we'll hear more about that. Should we just get Justin involved in this conversation?
Becca Martin Brown: I think we should.
Kyle Kellams: And as advertised, Justin Fletcher is with us. Justin, welcome to Ozarks at Large.
Justin Fletcher: So happy to be here, Kyle.
Kyle Kellams: We're going to talk about The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe, I promise. But I remember you as an actor at Fayetteville High School, and I want to talk for just a minute about some of those roles that I might remember.
Justin Fletcher: Long time ago.
Becca Martin Brown: Not as long as you think it is. So what was your first show there?
Justin Fletcher: My first show there was The Odd Couple — Neil Simon, classic comedy — which really was my first foray into the world of theater. I was under the tutelage of the legendary Warren Rosenauer, who cast me in this role. It was the first thing I'd ever done, and I got one of the lead roles of Felix Unger. It really opened my mind and expanded my understanding of what was possible in the world of art.
That was followed then by Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie — an amazing experience to go from Felix Unger to a guy who was, one by one, offing his fellow vacationers on this mysterious island.
Becca Martin Brown: And then there was the University of Arkansas — and you got more than acting training there. You got a wife.
Justin Fletcher: I did, as a matter of fact. Thanks to theater once again — in the drama department, I did many shows there, but met Laura through the process of doing those shows. Despite being a very hyperactive, over-engaged theater performer, she saw something in me that she liked. I'm grateful for that, and we have been together for a very, very long time.
Becca Martin Brown: What was the show we'd remember you in at UA?
Justin Fletcher: Well, there may be two. Probably the most prominent one was yet another Neil Simon classic, Broadway Bound, where I played the lead character who is living with his family and coming up in the world of writing — a formative experience under the direction of Kent Brown.
Then the other performance that was probably most noteworthy was Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in my final year. But one of the things I'm most proud of is the work with the Mount Sequoyah New Play Festival, which was the granddaddy, the precursor to what TheatreSquared does now with their New Play Fest — bringing in playwrights from around the country to work on a new script.
Ever since that experience, that has really engaged me in the development of new work — not only here, but I did some of that in Chicago and have worked with Play Fest a couple of times since returning. It’s actually one of my favorite things to do: to see the development process and be able to speak into that with the actual writer in the room. It’s really kind of magical.
Kyle Kellams: All right, let’s talk about The Madness of Poe: A Love Story. You talked about being Felix Unger, about being Romeo. What’s it like to be Edgar Allan Poe?
Justin Fletcher: It’s a challenge, and it’s a responsibility, because a character like Edgar Allan Poe means so many things to so many people. You have to bring a lot to it. But as I found through the process — and I think most people’s conception of this dark, brooding loner of American literature — it’s really not that accurate.
He was an amazing writer, an amazing craftsman of all genres, including humor and science fiction. He was a feared literary critic of the time — people were really afraid of his reviews in the Virginia paper. He made a lot of enemies that way as well.
And of course, he invented the detective story as we think of it today with The Murders in the Rue Morgue. So all of you who are fans of detective fiction and true crime — a lot of that would not have happened without Edgar Allan Poe.
Kyle Kellams: This production is in the Headquarters House, a house that’s more than a century old. From what I understand, at one point one of his short stories is coming to life while the other half of the audience is seeing a separate story, and they’ve got to all come together. Timing is always important in a production, but when there’s a cast in two different rooms trying to do something on a timeline, what is that like?
Justin Fletcher: It is a challenge. A lot of the rehearsal process was figuring out exactly how that timeline would work. In fact, I’m doing several more stanzas of The Raven than were originally scripted in order to help make that timeline work.
We have the audience — they begin together, but then they split off into those different stories, like you mentioned, in different parts of the house. To make sure that we’re crossing paths at the right time took a lot of work to figure out, both technically and as actors, to make it all come together seamlessly. We’ve done it pretty well — it’s pretty amazing.
Becca Martin Brown: How can people get tickets for this show?
Justin Fletcher: Well, the good news and the bad news is that the performances are sold out at this point. However, I would recommend that folks maybe stop by to be on standby for the performances they’d like to attend, because there have been instances in which a few seats have opened up due to no-shows and that sort of thing.
I’d also recommend following Arkansas Classical Theatre on Instagram. When seats do open up — or as we did last week when we added a new show Thursday, Oct. 30, at 9 o’clock, which again has now sold out — those types of announcements will be posted there. So, Arkansas Classical Theatre on Instagram will give you the most current updates on all things Poe.
Kyle Kellams: Get on those standby lists. Watch for those added shows if they come. It’s running through, of course, Oct. 31 — Halloween. Justin Fletcher, thank you so much for your time.
Justin Fletcher: My pleasure. Thanks for talking to y’all.
Kyle Kellams: Becca, talk to you next week?
Becca Martin Brown: I think so.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
