Annual English department tradition introduces new aspects October event
Mood lighting? Check. Spooky decorations and costumes? Check. A gathering of students and faculty to hear the telling of horror stories and ghost tales on the night before Halloween? Check.
“Poe in the Dark is a tradition that’s been going on for I don’t know how long,” said Chris Wilson, a senior in English literature and the president of the Sigma Tau Delta, the club in charge of the event. “Nobody really knows when it first started, but it’s been going on for years.”
One of the English Department’s oldest traditions, Poe in the Dark returned this year with a new twist to its classic program. Featuring the reading of an original short story along with a list of classic literature, this year’s performance also included a musical accompaniment to the telling of a popular horror story from Edgar Allen Poe.
“Poe in the Dark is a literary theatrical reading of scary stories and poems done by both the professors and students on the university campus,” said Alenica Young, an English secondary education senior. “What’s really cool is this is the second year we’ve opened it up to students to audition to bring in their own works.”
Hosted by the the International English Honors Society, Sigma Tau Delta, Poe in the Dark traditionally features short horror stories or poems read by English professors. Last year, the event was expanded to include the works and readings of students as well.
“In the past it’s just been something the committee selects,” Wilson said. “They just pick people to do it, based on professors we know would do a good job. We’re still kind of developing that awareness that people can come and audition for it.”
This year, three student readings performed along with three readings from professors. The student performances include an original short story titled “Willow Lake” and renditions of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Bells” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” performed with the musical accompaniment.
“I did a poem and it was a lot of fun because its one of my favorite poems, ‘The Bells’ by Edgar Allen Poe,” said Elinor Smith, a senior in English. “He uses like every literary technique known to man with alliteration and repetition and it starts small with it talking about sledges and bells and its kind of Christmasy, and it builds to this grandiose scary story feel.”
The variety of performances from the professors included a short story called “Some of Us Have Been Threatening Our Friend Colby” by Donald Barthelme; a series of poems from the Spanish poet, Damaso Alonso; and a comedic summary of the Oedipus plays by Sophocles leading up to a contrasting serious reading of what can be considered the first literary appearance of zombies, said reader Mark Damen, Ph.D., professor of history and theater arts.
“I like seeing how theatrical it makes the literature,” Wilson said. “Because it’s really creating an atmosphere where they are doing more than just reading, they are getting into their character of a piece of literature. It’s a really theatrical performance; that’s the best part.”
Throughout the event, raffle drawings were held offering prizes donated from Noodles and Company, Pizza Pie Cafe, Buffalo Wild Wings, RockHaus Indoor Climbing Gym and many more.
“The community was very generous towards us this year and we’re really appreciative of that,” Young said.
Raffle tickets were a dollar each or free with the donation of a can of food to be donated to the local food bank. The price of admission, $2, was reduced to $1 by the donation of food as well.
“I think it went really well,” Wilson said on the success of the event. “We definitely did exceed our expectation of how many people were going to come and I think the student performances also reached a new level with incorporating music and things like that. I hope that we can continue to get more people to come and have a bigger venue this year, and then the level of our performances will just keep getting better and better as well.”
This year for Poe in the Dark, Sigma Tau Delta was joined by Aggie Radio, who recorded the event and supplied the sound equipment that night.
“They are going to be making this into a podcast,” Wilson said. “So people after or who may not have been able to attend it can still get access to it, via the Aggie Radio podcasts.”
The podcasts will be available on the Aggie Radio website.
“It was fun,” said Whitney Humphreys, an English major. “I think that it’s a good thing and that if more people came, I think that no one would be disappointed.”
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