Manfred, by Lord Byron, is a chamber drama. It is written in the form of a play but it was never meant to be staged. It might be read by a solitary reader, or perhaps read out loud by a few friends after dinner, in a candlelit drawing room. This excerpt from the opening reflects…
31 Days of Halloween – October 19
After visiting Poe’s grave at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, we walked the few blocks to Amity Street and were guests in his humble home. He lived at the address from 1833-35. His grandmother received a widow’s pension as the surviving wife of a Revolutionary War solider. She, an aunt, two cousins and Poe all lived in the tiny house.
ACCENT: AFTER ALICE by Gregory Maguire
Maguire has made a name for himself by re-imagining well-known fairy tales and children’s’ stories from the point-of-view of another character. From “Snow White” to “A Christmas Carol”, Maguire uses back story and inventiveness to create an alternate reality. Wicked, which told the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, became a blockbuster Broadway musical.…
31 Days of Halloween – October 18
When the 11-year-old Willie Lincoln died in the White House in February of 1862, his parents were inconsolable. Lincoln did no official work for three weeks — a president in the midst of a civil war. Mary was deemed by some to have gone insane. While the president slowly began to accept that his son…
31 Days of Halloween – October 17
Poems for Halloween A gypsy fire is on the hearth, Sign of the carnival of mirth; Through the dun fields and from the glade Flash merry folk in masquerade, For this is Halloween! -Unknown A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly…