The Museums of Tusculum College invite the public to experience the “Midnight Mind of Edgar Allan Poe” next month at Tusculum College.
“The Midnight Mind of Edgar Allan Poe” will bring some of the classics and lesser known works by the American literary giant to the stage March 17-19 in the Behan Arena Theatre in the lower level of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building (side entrance). Performances dates have changed and will be on Wednesday, March 30, and Thursday, March 31, and Friday, April 1, at 7 p.m.
Dramatic readings of Poe’s works will be enhanced through music, movement and innovative theatrical techniques. A historical narrative will provide interesting details of Poe’s life and times.
Poe’s works have been in print since 1827, and the versatile writer’s output includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and as an innovator in the science fiction genre. While his reputation today is based primarily on tales of terror and his haunting lyric poetry found in such classics as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe made his living as a literary critic and theoretician.
The public’s imagination has also been captivated by the character of Poe himself. The legend of Poe, created primarily as a result of a biography written by one of his enemies to defame the author’s name, characterizes the writer as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows. The true Poe was a complex man who endured many tragedies in his life while seeking success in the literary world and left one of his biggest mysteries in the nature of his death, which has prompted a score of theories over the years.
The Museums of Tusculum program to explore the works and life of one of America’s greatest writers has been funded through a grant from the Arts Builds Communities fund of the Tennessee Arts Commission administered through the Johnson City Area Arts Council.
Admission is $5 for the general public and $4 for senior citizens. Tickets will be sold at the door only. Area middle and high school students will be admitted free of charge as will Tusculum College students, faculty and staff.
For more information about the program, please call 423-636-8554 or e-mail lwalker@tusculum.edu. To learn more about the Museums of Tusculum College, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.