The Poe Show PDX is Portland’s literary/variety birthday celebration and roast of Edgar Allan Poe.
The 2026 show, commemorating Poe’s 217th birthday, is Sunday, January 18 at Black Water, 5115 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm. $10 cash at the door.
Under 21 admitted; show contains mature language and topics.
Est. Phoenix, AZ 2002-2010; ran Portland, OR 2016-2020, revived 2026.
2026 Readers and Performers
2026 “The Raven” Reader
Jenny Forrester
She’s the author of Narrow River, Wide Sky: A Memoir and Soft Hearted Stories, a Colorado Book Award Finalist, Brilliant: The Art of Literary Radiance and Love: The Art of Cherishing the World. She writes at Substack about her passion for reading and writing books.
Short Film Special Selection: “Blowhard” (2025)
In this modern retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a suburban woman is driven mad by her next door neighbor’s incessant leaf blowing.
Written by Rachel Weatherly, directed by Weatherly and Joey Tran
2026 Performer
Artimus TreeFrog
Artimus TreeFrog is a Portland-based guitar lunatic, who has been serenading the local music scene since 2008. His unique style of improvisational comedy rock is legend in the Portland Open Mic scene, where he creates songs from nothing using only words suggested by the audience. He wrote the song ‘Captain Poe’ for the 2018 Poe Show, and he is delighted to be back to share it again.
2026 Performer
Sharon Woodard
With a life that has gone from chasing through the streets of San
Francisco as a courier to cooking hot soup for diners at a restaurant
in Alaska, New Jersey-born Sharon Woodard was seemingly
destined to become a doctor in Portland, Oregon. In the midst of all
of this, she has written three novels, and a slew of poetry and short
stories.
2026 Performer
Wolfgang W. Wood
Wolfgang W. Wood is a poet, photographer, and traditional artist who is interested in themes of relationships, nature, gender, mental health, and time. They are originally from LA County and made their move to Oregon in 2017 to study studio art, creative writing, and psychology at Willamette University. Inevitably they fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and moved from Salem to Portland in 2021. They have shown their art at the Hallie Ford Museum (in their thesis show, Tangent) in 2021 and Splendorporium’s 2025 Elemental group show. Their poetry has been published in ERA Magazine‘s 2nd issue (2024) as well as Dan Johnston’s The Other Shoe anthology (2024). They are in the process of completing and publishing their first independent poetry collection Morning Coffee, an accumulation of their work from the past 5 years.
@wolfgang.media.productions (Instagram)
2026 Performer
Strange and the Familiars (duo)
We are Storytellers.
That is to say, We are Mapmakers. Messengers.
We are not lightbearers, but will provide you with some dry wood and a match if you care to give it a go.
Strange & the Familiars, born from the darkly poetic mind of Stephanie Strange, is a band of eclectic musicians. Nate Purscelley on trumpet, Kelly Clifton on bass, Julio Appling on stand up bass, and Tim Karplus on drums, and a collection of special guest Familiars.
Informed by gothic literature and graphic novels, Stephanie Strange leads captivated audiences to a very real crossroads, through stories and songs that walk side-by-side with this world gone mad. In turns cutting and sweet, the multimedia word-building universe called The Strange World harkens with words of warning and mourning for all that we have lost, and all that we have yet to lose, while challenging listeners to find joy and take back the narrative of their own lives even as dark entities threaten all that we have built.
2026 Performer
Nicole Burron
Nicole Burron is a horror and dark fiction author. She explores the intersections of spirituality, psychology, and storytelling, weaving these threads through her work.
@nicole_burron on Instagram
2026 Performer
Gail Lehrman
Gail is an expatriate New Yorker relocated to the Pacific Northwest. Though she abandoned the canyons of Manhattan for the mountains of Oregon, Gail never lost her fascination with her native city and its melting pot history. When life finally gave her time and space to focus on her writing, she found that New York’s voices still sang in her ear. Those voices are the force behind her debut novel, Across Seward Park.
Gail holds a B.A. and M.A in English Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. Now a frequent hiker in the lovely Columbia River Gorge, Gail’s also an enthusiastic participant in the rich literary community of Portland, Oregon.
2026 Performer
Professor DR Schreiber, The Historical Conjurer
Professor DR Schreiber is Danny Schreiber, a Portland, OR-based magician, emcee, host, magic historian, performer, and teacher of new magicians.
He is a member of the Academy of Magic Arts (Magic Castle) and past president of the Society of American Magicians Portland Assembly. In 2011, Professor DR Schreiber won the Stan Kramien Excellence in Stage Magic Award from the Society of American Magicians Portland Assembly. He has performed up and down the West Coast, in addition to the UK, Europe and Canada.
Schreiber uses his long career as a television producer and years of working as a cast member at Disneyland to enhance the all around entertainment experience for his audiences.
Master of Ceremonies and Mistress of Trivia
Sally K. Lehman
Sally K Lehman is the author of the novels The Last Last Fight and In The Fat. She was the editor of the anthologies Bear the Pall, War Stories 2016, and War Stories 2017. Her work can be found in several literary magazines including The Coachella Review and Another Chicago Magazine. Sally has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Wilkes University where she worked as Managing Editor for River & South Review. She lives in Gresham, Oregon.