By Abeer Khan
UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH – American University of Sharjah performing arts students will for Halloween present an online story-telling production program based on Edgar Allen Poe’s stories
Anthony Tassa, professor and performing arts coordinator at American University of Sharjah
said designing the program was “the most logical thing to do” given that Fall 2020 would be online.
Tassa said he chose stories from Poe for the students to interpret because they are “first-person narrative” making them effective sources for monologues.
He described the stories as, “creepy, dark, gothic [and] horror.”
“Things are difficult for the students right now” due to the pandemic closing campus, among other things, said Tassa. He added it was important to keep students engaged in an online semester because they lack the camaraderie of friends and faculty.
“There are a lot of examples throughout history when performing arts was implemented in some of humanity’s darkest days to keep morale alive,” he added.
The online show “Edgar’s Gorey Tales” will be streamed on Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. through this link: bit.ly/AUSPerformingArts
