Arts Council of Manatee County News

Edgar Allan Poe makes the Powel Crosley Estate his home for his 200th birthday celebration. Enjoy the telling of these chilling tales:

The Bells - Jingling, tinkling melodic bells become moaning, groaning menacing bells.

The Black Cat - Delve into the mind's inner workings as the narrator shares a "most wild, yet homely" story of events that terrified, tortured and finally destroyed her.

The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion - "The exceeding tenuity of the object of our dread was apparent; for all heavenly objects were plainly visible through it."

The Dream of King Karna-Vootra by Lord Dunsany - "I very clearly saw last night the queenly Vava-Nyria. Though partly she was hidden by great clouds that swept continually by her ... "

How to Write a Blackwood Article - Signora Psyche Zenobia gets a lesson on how to write for a magazine: Get herself "into such a scrape ... drowned, or - choked with a chicken bone" and then record the sensations she experiences.

The Masque of the Red Death - Can one avoid the darkness and decay of the Red Death?

The Murders in the Rue Morgue - This gruesome double murder requires an ingenious mind to detect the killer.

A Predicament - Ms. Zenobia seeks and finds her sensational adventure in a clock tower, accompanied by her three-foot tall servant and her five-inch tall poodle.

The Raven - Poe's famous poem of a lonely, melancholy man and his late-night visit by a raven.

Cast features Thomas P. Laitenan, Jaye Annette Sheldon, Catherine A. White, Justus White and Tom Zadoyko.

NEW THIS SEASON!

Gwendolyn Crosley invites Ernest Hemingway into her home for performances of two of his best-loved works:

A Moveable Feast - A look at Hemingway's storied time as a struggling young author and part of the American expatriate circle of writers in Paris in the 1920s.

The Old Man and the Sea - The epic battle between Santiago, an old, experienced fisherman, and a giant marlin said to be the largest catch of his life.

Other noted icons will present their own popular stories:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - "He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it."

Little Tramp by Charlie Chaplin - Artistic genius and internationally famous clown Charlie Chaplin takes you back to the days of silent movies through this skit from his collected works.