The 27th iteration of the famous Tales From The Crypt research and performance project is underway. Earlier this week the 41 students who compose Mr. Chuck Yarborough’s Tales class visited the Columbus Lowndes Public Library’s genealogy department.
The students will spend the semester researching the lives of individuals buried at historic Friendship Cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi. Through primary document research, these high school juniors will piece together a history of the people they have been assigned, and using that research will create dramatic monologues based upon their subjects.
Then in the spring, as a part of the annual Columbus Pilgrimage, the students will perform their monologues at the cemetery while wearing period dress. The program has been singled out by the History Channel, several news publications, and is the winner of the 2005 Governor’s Excellence in the Arts Award.
Tales is the brainchild of the late Carl Butler, who taught history at MSMS from the school’s founding until his passing in 2003. Since then the program has been under the directorship of Mr. Chuck Yarborough.
You can see television coverage of the project here and here.