Theatre

After his actor education (school and studies), the professional Jeffrey Combs started his carreer at different well-known regional theatres with several acting groups. He loved this work on the stage but Jeffrey Combs also wanted to portray characters in movies and television series. He reached his goal and made an awesome career with his roles in the films and series.


In an interview Jeffrey Combs said that his theatre background gave him a good start playing in films. The main things he learnt on the stage was acuteness and commitment in portraying his roles. (source: Little Review).


Here is an overview of Jeffrey Combs' theatre career on basis of his homepage (www.jeffreycombs.com - stage):


1972 Jeffrey Combs was graduating the Lompoc High School, Lompoc CA

In the Lompoc High Schook, he already attended an actor-course as well as performed in the following stage plays:
  •     The Dark of the Moon
  •     Camelot
  •     The Night of January 16th
  •     Teahouse of the August Moon
  •     Star Spangled Girl

Then Jeffrey Combs attended the Allan Hancock College (Pacific Conversatory of the Performing Arts, PCPA) in Santa Monica, California. 

During this time he performed in these following stage plays:
  •     Rumplestiltskin
  •     Mart/Sade
  •     Electric Folderol
  •     13 Clocks
  •     The Lark
  •     The Music Man
  •     Caucasian Chalk Circle
  •     Most Happy Fella
  •     Time of Your Life
  •     The Cherry Orchard
  •     Twelfth Night
  •     Romeo & Juliet
  •     Much Ado About Nothing
  •     Peer Gynt
  •     Thieves Carnival
  •     Candied
  •     Once upon a Mattress
  •     La Boheme
  •     The Medium
  •     Kaspar
  •     Zoo Story
  •     A Fly Takes a Life
  •     Tortilla Flats
  •     Under Milkwood
  •     1776
  •     Annie Get Your Gun
  •     Guys and Dolls
  •     The Mikado
  •     Brothers-In-Law

About 1978 Jeffrey Combs attended the Professonal Actor's Training Programm at the University in Washington in Seattle. 

He also performs in a lot of stage plays there too:
  •     The Chalk Garden
  •     O, What A Lovely War!
  •     The Admirable Crichton
  •     Ah, Wilderness!
  •     The Crucible
  •     Othello
  •     Camino Real
  •     La Ronde
  •     Winged Victory
  •     You Never Can Tell

After the successfull graduating from the University Jeffrey Combs started his career at different regional theatres with several acting groups 

e.g. at
  •     the Old Globe Theatre (San Diego, Arizona)
  •     Theatre Company (Tucson, Arizona)
  •     California Shakespearian Company (Visalia, California)
  •     Mark Taper Forum (Center Theatre Group, California)
  •     South Coast Repetory (Theatre Company, California)

1980 Jeffrey Combs performed at the California Shakespearian Festival, in Visalia, California:

  •     Hamlet
  •     Midsummer Night's dream

Since 1982 

started Jeffrey Combs to act in TV series and films too. Nevertheless he performs furthermore in stage plays in the years 1982/1983 at the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, Arizona in:
  •     Henry IV
  •     Midsummer Night's dream (twice)
  •     Comedy of Errors
  •     Julius Caesar
  •     Macbeth
  •     Skin of our Teeth
  •     Night Must Fall
  •     London Assurance
  •     The Winter's Tale


In the year 1983, Jeffrey Combs performed an authentic, mesmerizing and awesome "Henry Antrobus" and is the highlight of the play "The Skin of Our Teeth (American Playhouse)". 


It is the first stage play which is broadcasted live on the American TV and can still be bought on a DVD. The filming location was the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, California, USA.


Also in the year 1983 Jeffrey Combs won The "Los Angeles Drama Critics Award",  

during the time while he was performing at the South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award (LA Drama Critics Award) for his outstanding play in a lead role as Christy Mahon in the "Playboy of the Western World".


So I suppose around 1983 Jeffrey Combs plays at the South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California in following stage plays:

  •     All in Favor said No
  •     The Diviners
  •     Major Barbara
  •     Playboy of the Western World
  •     The Debutante Ball
  •     The Miser
  •     Highest Standard of Living

In 1985 Jeffrey Combs was nominated for the San Diego Critics Circle award 

for his performance as Puck (aka: Robin Goodfellow) in the comedy play by William Shakespeare "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Old Globe theatre in San Diego.

Sometime those years Jeffrey Combs also performed

  •     Twelfth Night at the Reed College, Portland, Oregon
  •     Taratuffe at the Reed College, Portland, Oregon
  •     Arsenic & Old Lace at the Denver Center Theatre, Colorado
  •     New Business at the Denver Center Theatre, Colorado
  •     Found A Peanut at Small Theatres in Los Angeles, California
  •     Private Wars at Small Theatres in Los Angeles, California
  •     Chekov in Yalta at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, California
  •     Twelfth Night at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, California
  •     The Misanthrope at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, California
  •     A Christmas Carol at the Arizona Theatre Co., Tucson, Arizona
  •     Royal Hunt of the Sun at the Arizona Theatre Co., Tucson, Arizona
  •     The Show Off at the Arizona Theatre Co., Tucson, Arizona
  •     Tartuffe at the Arizona Theatre Co., Tucson, Arizona

In July 2005 Jeffrey Combs was the director 

of the following play at the California Lutheran University, CA and at the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company:
  •     Richard III

In the years 2009, 2010 and 2014 Jeffrey Combs returned to the stage world with his famous as well as beloved one-man-show


  •     "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe
Jeffrey Combs has performed the ninety minutes lasting one-man show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" for more than 6 months on several stages in the United States, e.g. in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Montreal, Baltimore, Nashville, San Diego and on Halloween in 2014 in Somerville (Boston), the birthplace of the author Edgar Allan Poe. The premiere was in Los Angeles at the Steve Allen Theatre in 2009.


October 28 & 29, 2016: Jeffrey Combs emcees 

  • the Colorado-Springs Philharmonic Pops Star Trek: The Final Frontier Concert.  

 

Since ~ 2013 till 2018 and probably more years: Star Trek Rat Pack Group

Jeffrey Combs performs and will perform in the Star Trek Rat Night Show several times a year as a permanent and extremely talented member auf the Star Trek Rat Pack Group. This show contains of humorous songs written by the six members. Jeffrey Combs not only writes and sings his songs, he also plays musical instruments, e.g. the guitar in this show. The Star Trek Rat Pack Show with the brilliant Jeffrey Combs is always the highlight of a Star Trek convention or a Star Trek Cruise Tour. 

  
Sources:
www.JeffreyCombs.com - stage 
csmonitor.com 
simivalleyacorn.com
Trektoday.com  




Jeffrey Combs as Edgar Allan Poe in the Nevermore-show and movies

Jeffrey Combs' professional theatre backround

After his actor education (school and university), Jeffrey Combs started his career in different well-known regional theatres with several acting groups. There, he learned a lot about acting styles and techniques, gestures and different voices. He loved this work on the stage. In an interview, Jeffrey Combs said that his theatre background gave him a good start for playing in films. The main things he learned on the stage was acuteness and commitment in portraying his roles.

How the great idea of the one-man-show about Edgar Allan Poe, performed by the awesome Jeffrey Combs, arose

The plan for the theatre show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" arose while Jeffrey Combs was portraying Edgar Allan Poe in the series "Master of Horror - The Black Cat" in the year 2007.

Stuart Gordon's daughter is an English-teacher and he had read "The Black Cat" to her class at this time. They discovered that nobody has told the story about the life of the famous American author Edgar Allan Poe so far and that this was tragic. Stuart Gordon thought this story could become a great one-man-show and proposed this to Jeffrey Combs. But this excellent actor did not want to do it at that time.

After the shooting of "Masters of Horror - The Black Cat" in the year 2007, Jeffrey Combs became a big fan of the author Edgar Allan Poe whose preferred genres were crime, science fiction and horror. He entitles Poe as the "American Van Gogh" because of his tragic life. Jeffrey Combs is fascinated by Poe's complex as well as contrary character facets. He regognized that Edgar Allan Poe had a similar height, the same eye color and a fitting appearance to himself.

Two years later, Jeffrey Combs agreed to play Edgar Allan Poe in the ninety-minutes-one-man-show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" after he was pushed a little bit to do that. ;-)

The premiere of this show took place in Los Angeles at the Steve Allen Theatre in 2009. They planned a four-week run but it became longer than that: 6 months. Jeffrey Combs' performance and show was so awesome and mesmerizing that he was invited to play Nevermore in many other cities and at film festivals in the United States and Canada in the following year.

Jeffrey Combs has performed the ninety minutes lasting one-man show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" for a few years on several stages in the United States, e.g. in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Montreal, Baltimore, Nashville, San Diego and on Halloween in 2014 in Somerville (Boston), the birthplace of the author Edgar Allan Poe.

About the movie "The Black Cat" with the splendid Jeffrey Combs as Poe

This story is an episode of "Masters of Horror" and is written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is about a cat which was tortured and killed by the leading character. But Jeffrey Combs emphasizes that no cat was actually hurt or tortured during the film. There were ten cats with different abilities and they were all treated well during the whole time.

The black cat should be only a metaphor for the inner demon of Edgar Allan Poe who pursue him.

Who was Edgar Allan Poe?

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809. He was an American poet, editor, author, critic and journalist and his stories, tales and poems are national and international known and loved. But Poe had to work hard for his live: write for hire, mass-produce articles about different subjects and more. Nevertheless, he and his wife lived in poverty.

His parents were actors. His father left the family a year after Poe's birth and nobody heard anything from him again. Another year later, Poe's mother died. The two-year-old Edgar Allan Poe came to John and Virginia Allan just as a foster child. He was not adopted by them.

As an early orphan, Edgar Allan Poe had to grow up in this foster family in which he was not fully recognized then. Nevertheless, Poe has adopted his middle name "Allan" in honor of the foster father who was of the same name as surname.

Since 1835, Poe applied himself to the journalism. Three years later, his own literary works were published. Another tragedy: only eleven years after his marriage, his wife died. After that, Edgar Allan Poe was searching comfort in alcohol and opium.

Poe died at the age of forty, completely neglected and homeless.

Poe's tales and novels belong to the "gothic American literature".

Besides: Do you know a trivia?

The outstanding actor Jeffrey Combs has the second name in common with Edgar Allan Poe (whereas Jeffrey writes his "Alan" just with one "l").

Jeffrey Combs about Edgar Allan Poe

Jeffrey Combs is a big fan of the author Edgar Allan Poe, whose preferred genres were crime, science fiction and horror. He entitles Poe as the "American Van Gogh" because of his tragic life and his brilliant charisma.

He is impressed by the wittiness of Poe and the complexness and facets of his character as well as his imaginativeness. And Jeffrey Combs commiserated about the bad luck of this talented author during his hard life.

But Jeffrey Combs also empathize with the author Edgar Allan Poe and his hard life, for example with his big losses. There are some things in Poe's life which he can understand and feel too. So, Jeffrey Combs has kind of a connection to this author what makes it easier to perform him.

So, the brilliant Jeffrey Combs feels honoured to perform this outstanding American author.

About "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe"

It is a show of Jeffrey Combs which is very worth to be seen. The actor's great perfomance, the fascinating atmosphere together with the empathetic representation of the tormented Edgar Alan Poe makes this ninety minutes show memorable.

Jeffrey Combs plays Edgar Allan Poe in the year 1848. At this time, Poe's wife was dead for a year and Edgar Allan Poe died about two years later.

It is a 90-minutes monologue which contains humorous but also tragic, dark and dramatic moments. Jeffrey Combs as the Southern, Virginian gentleman (with Virginian accent) Edgar Allan Poe shows his passion for poetry and Jeffrey Combs performs also some of Edgar Allan Poe's works. He reads stories written by Edgar Allan Poe from a hardcover book. During this performance, Poe drinks whiskey again and again and becomes more and more drunken. He begins to feel his suffering, loosing his beloved wife, and starts ranting. During the fantastic performance on Halloween in 2014, Jeffrey Combs also plays a drunken Edgar Allan Poe, falling from the high stage.

This Nevermore-show starts with the lighting of a candle and ends with the extinguished candle. 90 percent of what is performed in the Nevermore-show comes directly from the author Edgar Allan Poe. There are only a few props, but the whole Nevermore-team and especially the professional and talented character-actor Jeffrey Combs create a very special, great and unforgettable show with "Nevermore".

Jeffrey Combs looks like Edgar Allan Poe, he has the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe and plays Edgar Allan Poe with an incredible performance during the 90 minutes.

If you want to feel and to be touched by the mesmerizing Nevermore-show of the great Jeffrey Combs - please read the impressive report of the Nevermore-show on Halloween in Somerville, Boston: PoeForevermore.com - Review of Nevermore.

I wished I could be there on Halloween! And so do a lot of people!

Jeffrey Combs' hard preparation for his role as Edgar Allan Poe in the Nevermore show

Jeffrey Combs is a very professional and serious actor. He always strives for perfection and he always reaches his goal - with hard work.

So his role as Edgar Allan Poe in the show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" needs a lot of preparation and learning.

Jeffrey Combs said that learning and doing an one-man-show is a very lonely job because he has to do all of that alone: learning and performing.

Here a quote from Jeffrey Combs himself in an interview:
"Dude, I spent months walking the dog and pacing the floor, learning and learning and learning and learning and learning and learning. That's why I say it's so lonely – there's nobody to even work a scene with. Not just during the run – the prep. Prep prep prep prep prep – alone. Learn a poem, learn a poem."
(source: MondoCelluloid.com)

High appreciation for Jeffrey Combs' Nevermore-show from the actor-colleague Hal Holbrook

Hal Holbrook - the famous character-actor with a successful one-man show about Mark Twain for 50 years - visited Jeffrey Combs backstage after his one-man-show Nevermore in Los Angeles. Hal Holbrook cherished Jeffrey Combs' play very much and congratulated him for this awesome performance. Jeffrey Combs was of course very flattered and happy about this.

This photo of this great, unforgettable moment with Hal Holbrook, Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs backstage was shot by Jeffrey Combs' daughter Catherine Combs with her iPhone.
Twitter.com - Hal Holbrook visits Jeffrey Combs Nevermore-performance

Jeffrey Combs' outstanding performance of the Nevermore-show

In the year 2009 till 2010, Jeffrey Combs has performed the ninety minute lasting one-man-show "Nevermore, An evening with Edgar Allan Poe" on several stages in the USA and Canada, for example in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Montreal, Baltimore, Nashville, San Diego and on Halloween in 2014 in Somerville (Boston), the birthplace of the author Edgar Allan Poe.

The brilliant, highly talented and popular character-actor Jeffrey Combs has Edgar Allan Poe's spirit as soon as he stands on the stage and thrilled the audience with his one-man show "Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe".

Many articles confirm Jeffrey Combs' awesome performance that takes your breath away. It seems as if the famous author has been re-animated in and by Jeffrey Combs.

Even though his performance is a particular highlight, Jeffrey Combs' appearance on this day also supports a good purpose - supporting the "READ BOSTON"-initiative for children. Jeffrey Combs supports the "Edgar Allan Poe bronze bust project" and therefore the "READ-BOSTON"-initiative. The brilliant and beloved actor Jeffrey Combs has supported this charity project with his autographs, his active presence, videos and, not at least, with his famous name. (You can find more information here: Post: Jeffrey Combs' fascinating and brilliant show "Nevermore")

After his Nevermore-show in Boston, there are so many exciting reviews, postings, tweets and articles about Jeffrey Combs' mesmerizing performance that he and Mark Redfield plan a new Nevermore-tour through the USA and UK in the year 2015.

Reviews and reports about Jeffrey Combs' performance in his Nevermore show

Standing ovations, enthusiastic praise and a completely fascinated audience is guaranteed at this Nevermore performance of this great actor.

It is often reported that the brilliant and popular character-actor Jeffrey Combs has Edgar Allan Poe's spirit as soon as he stands on the stage and thrilled the audience with his one-man show. Many articles confirm Jeffrey Combs' awesome performance that takes your breath away. It seems as if the famous author has been re-animated in and by Jeffrey Combs. Everyone who has watched "Masters of Horror: The Black Cat" with the great Jeffrey Combs in the lead role knows what they mean. The innumerable inspiring reviews about his performance show how much Jeffrey Combs touches the heart and the soul of his audience while playing Edgar Allan Poe.

I found innumerable comments like
  • Combs is a fantastic Poe.
  • It was wonderful! Such a great experience!
  • Nevermore was fantastic.
  • Nevermore was the best show I've seen in this year.
can be found in social networks.

But there are also very great articles about Jeffrey Combs' one-man-show Nevermore.

Here an example:
"Combs' portrayal of the Boston-born author is so mesmerizing that attendees will forget that Poe has left us, and that it is, in fact, not 1848."
(source: PromoteHorror.com)

You can find more of them under "sources and more information".

And the highlight: a very touching and great report of the Nevermore-show on Halloween 2014 in Somerville, Boston: PoeForevermore.com - Review of Nevermore

Another great report of Nevermore, performed by the awesome Jeffrey Combs: KVClements.com

Jeffrey Combs as Edgar Allan Poe

You can see some quoted movie clippings of his show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" in the links below.

Jeffrey Combs wears mid-length, waved black hair, a wrong nose (Jeffrey wears a prosthetic nose as Edgar Allan Poe), the Poe moustache and has modified his voice. Sometimes it is hard to find Jeffrey Combs in Edgar Allan Poe's role what demonstrates the brilliant work of this actor. He wears similar shoes and a coat as Poe did. And he speaks in the same Virginian accent as Poe did.

The first time I watched the movie clippings I was fascinated by the athomsphere as well as the intense impressions of his performance. The second time I was busy searching something where I can recognize Jeffrey Combs in this character. It was hard to find Jeffrey Combs in Edgar Allan Poe's role what demontrates the brilliant work of this actor again.

Jeffrey Combs himself said about the hardest thing of such a performance is to come into "Poe mode" to play this author realistic and convincing. He has to live and feel a little bit like Edgar Allan Poe the weeks before the show to be able to play such a great and complex person on the stage. That means in this case: Jeffrey Combs becomes a bit melancholic in his life for this time.

But the reviews confirm over and over again: Jeffrey Combs was a fantastic, mesmerizing, entertaining and convincing Edgar Allan Poe. He has not only played this character - he has shown Poe's spirit and charima.

Trailers and photos of Jeffrey Combs' Nevermore show

Video for the kickstarter-project with many scenes from "Nevermore" and "Masters of Horror: The Black Cat"
Kickstarter.com

Highlights / Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe
YouTube.com - Highlights of "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe"

Photos with Jeffrey Combs in "Nevermore" and "Masters of Horror: The Black Cat"
PoeForevermore.com - Interview with Dennis Paoli
PoeForevermore.com - Interview with Jeffrey Combs

Soundcloud.com - 2015 Poe Forevermore Birthday Celebration (with a sequence of "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" from minute 50:00 - 55:00)

The great plans for Jeffrey Combs' mesmerizing Nevermore-show and his role as Poe

As Jeffrey Combs is the perfect character actor to perform the brilliant author Edgar Allan Poe and his tragic life, this role comes back over and over again.

2007
You can see Jeffrey Combs' first awesome performance of Poe in "Masters of Horror: The Black Cat" in the year 2007. He played an impressive and convincing Edgar Allan Poe and so it became clear: Jeffrey Combs is the best actor to play Edgar Allan Poe - no, he is the incarnation of Edgar Allan Poe.

2009 / 2010
The premiere of this show took place in Los Angeles at the Steve Allen Theatre in 2009. They planned a four-week run but it became longer than that: 6 months. Jeffrey Combs' performance and show was so awesome and mesmerizing that he was invited to play Nevermore in many other cities and at film festivals in the United States and Canada in the following year.

2014
Jeffrey Combs performed his successful one-man-show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe" at Boston on Halloween (October 31). The feedback of the audience was numerous and great. The show is more than fantastic and Jeffrey Combs an incredible awesome actor!

2015
So Jeffrey Combs and Mark Redfield plan a "Nevermore"-tour through the USA and the United Kingdom in the year 2015. We all are so glad to hear this! The detailed plan will come out in the beginning of the year 2015.

2015
More great news were reported in 2014 for the year 2015: A new really big horror-comedy movie is planned - "The Gathering". Jeffrey Combs agreed to play the main role of Edgar Allan Poe, who will tell a great untold story to get out of the purgatory after his death. The probable start of the film-production will be in May 2015.
You can read more about this film-project here: Post: The Gathering - Jeffrey Combs as Edgar Allan Poe

Latest news of Jeffrey Combs' brilliant Nevermore show and your contact

Latest news, interviews and reviews of the Nevermore show can be found on the website, directly administrated by Mark Redfield:
PoeForevermore.com - Nevermore
or
Facebook.com - Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe UK / US 2015

And of course you can read the latest information on my blog, on the fanblog-account in Twitter and Facebook too.

If you have any questions, proposals, ideas, contacts, want to comment on an attended Nevermore-show, find a mistake in my posts or something else I highly appreciate your approach on one of the blog-accounts in Twitter, Facebook or directly on my blog. Of course - you will always get an answer from me! :-)

Sources and further information

LittleReview.com
Eyecrave.net
PoeForevermore.com - Interview with Jeffrey Combs
Page: Theatre
TrekToday.com
Post: All about Jeffrey Combs fascinating and brilliant show "Nevermore"
Fangoria.com - Jeffrey Combs plays Poe
Poets.org - Poem "Bells"
PoeForevermore.com - Interview with Dennis Paoli
Dailydead.com
Facebook.com - Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe UK / US 2015
PoeForevermore.com - Review of "Nevermore"
PromoteHorror.com
Kickstarter.com
OddThingsIveSeen.com
DreadCentral.com
Wikipedia.org - Edgar Allan Poe (in German)
KVClements.com
DieterWunderlich.com (in German)
MondoCelluloid.com
Post: The Gathering - Jeffrey Combs as Edgar Allan Poe
Fangoria.com - Exclusive Interview: Jeffrey Combs returns to play Poe in Nevermore
BostonMagazine.com
YouTube.com - Jeffrey Combs on his discovery of Edgar Allan Poe and the origins of Nevermore
Post: Nevermore-performance on October 31