Lenore
A name that lingers in The Raven, and the subject of only one other Poe poem—set at her funeral. Her story is wrapped in mystery, open to interpretation.
We invited writers to imagine their own versions of Lenore’s story. The result? Sixteen unique scripts, each exploring a different answer to the question: Who was Lenore?
We received sixteen unique scripts, each offering a fresh and imaginative take on the mystery of Lenore, and now we had the challenge of deciding which playwright would win the chance to fully produce their play at the Irvington Halloween Festival (and take home $200!) But, true to our name, 4th Wall, we decided to break the fourth wall, inviting the audience to take the lead. We brought three plays to the stage, handing the decision over to you to narrow down the winner.
Part 1: A Playwriting competition | July 25, 2025
Sixteen talented creators joined us in our journey to explore the question, “Who was Lenore?” Their stories brought fresh life and new perspectives to this timeless mystery. From sixteen scripts, three were originally chosen for a live reading at Backlot on Bonna. As we reviewed the scripts, we found ourselves truly divided, so many voices stood out, and we were impressed by the different angles, characters, and tones each playwright had created. Narrowing down to ten plays was hard enough, five near impossible, and three… unimaginable. So, we were unanimous in one last decision that night: we had to make it four.
The read-through event was met with a full house, where 6 dedicated actors stepped up to bring these plays to life with genuine curiosity and heart. The plays were Lenore Forever: A Sister’s Tribute by Katherine Gibson, Seven Minutes by Essie Wallace, and LENORE by B.A. Williamson, and A Silent Muse by Breanna Helms each bringing their own unique voice to the question, “Who was Lenore?”
Every show had a fresh perspective and brought tears to our eyes, but at the end of the night, our audience had to make a decision and vote for their favorite story. Thank you to everyone who participated, and we look forward to collaborating with the winning playwright to bring their vision to life.
Join us this October at the Irvington Halloween Festival to experience the production in its entirety!
About the Creator
Breanna Helms is a local Indiana actress and playwright. She began acting at the age of 8 and started writing even earlier, at 6. When she’s not out in the community working on or leading a creative project, Breanna enjoys spending time at home with her kitty, Salem, and hanging out with her family. Some of her favorite roles include starring in Firebringer with the 4th Wall Players and Bus Stop with the Epilogue Players. She is also the author of the coming-of-age dystopian trilogy, We Rise With The Dead.
Congratulations to our contest winner: Breanna Helms
After an incredible night and talented competition, the audience had a difficult choice to make amongst four incredible, and vastly different, works of art.
Ultimately, Silent Muse took the spotlight as the audience favorite, earning the top spot for playwright and actress, Breanna Helms.
The other incredible plays were Lenore Forever: A Sister’s Tribute by Katherine Gibson, Seven Minutes by Essie Wallace, and LENORE by B.A. Williamson, each bringing their own unique voice to the question, “Who was Lenore?”
Breanna Helms will now fully develop Silent Muse for the Irvington Halloween Festival this October, and we can’t wait to see her vision come alive on stage.
Thanks to all the writers, actors, and audience members who made this special read-through not only possible, but unforgetable.
If you missed the read-throughs, we invite you to experience the full production this October at the Irvington Halloween Festival. We look forward to sharing this story with you.
Part 2: The Full Production | October 25, 26, 30, 31 2025
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Edgar is an aspiring poet who meets the love of his life, Lenore. Unfortunately for the both of them, she is already betrothed to another. The two try to remain friends over the years, but struggle to overcome the powerful feelings they have for one another. In the end, Edgar was not able to avoid the tragic demise of Poe’s infamous heroine and this is what leads to his future macabre writings.
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Jy’Ierre Jones ~ Edgar
Emma Gedig ~ Lenore
Alice Graves ~ Annabel
Tracy Herring ~ Mother
Kyvaille Edge - Guy
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For years now, 4th Wall as an organization has tried to break into original playwriting competitions. We do not shy away from lesser known or obscure shows, and that gives us a pretty unique niche when it comes to producing content. When I was approached with the opportunity to host the Lenore competition and then direct the winning piece as a Halloween special, I enthusiastically accepted. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of untold stories of “side” characters. It being a first time experience, things did not go how I envisioned they would in the beginning, but such is life. Lenore is a fascinating study in that, from my perspective at least, she is one of Poe’s most well known characters without actually ever having said a word in any of his works. To further build on her mystery, there are very few hints on what her story was before her tragic and untimely demise. The goal for the plays written for last summer was to give the author’s own perspective on who Lenore was as a character. As a director and an actor, nothing intrigues me more. Fast forward to the actual production of the show, and I could not be more thrilled with the cast we have assembled for it. They have all impressed me with how well they display their character’s emotions, having the added burden of “changing” personalities as the play progresses. Their collected eagerness, enthusiasm and work ethic is something a director can only dream of. In the end, The Silent Muse is a character study. My hope is for you to understand who these characters are (even though they are fictional) and that you walk away inspired to better understand not only these people, but other characters as well. Thank you so much for coming to see the show!