The Fall of the House of Usher was written by Brent Cirves, Fine Arts Department Chair at Woodberry Forest School, and Mike Johnson, a former student. The script takes Poe’s original short story (you can read it here) and adds on additional characters and a backstory, in addition to instrumental and vocal music. We are told the story from the point of view of William Reed, a musician in the 1840’s, who experienced a set of traumatic events at the house of his good friend Roderick Usher.
Production History
Usher was first read at the College of William and Mary on November 14th, 2008 in the Ewell Recital Hall. The first live performance of the music was on April 10th, 2009, also at the College of William and Mary. Since then, there have been three fully staged productions of The Fall of the House of Usher.
- The Capital Fringe Festival, July 2009 (Winner- Best Musical Play)
- The New York International Fringe Festival, August 2009 (See the trailer below.)
- The Walker Fine Arts Center at Woodberry Forest School, May 2010
There are no current plans for a future production of Usher, but we would be willing to give performance rights for free to the right group or organization who might be interested in performing this piece. If you would like updates on Usher or have any other requests or comments, please send us a message through the Inquiries page.