Students Bring History To Life During 28th Annual Tales From The Crypt Performance

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Bringing life to the deceased, that’s what students from the Mississippi School of Mathematics and Science did during their Tales From The Crypt performance Monday night.

Bad weather forced a cancellation Friday night, but that’s not putting a damper on the students enthusiasm.

Telling the stories of the men and women from the grave, that’s the task Austin Cosby was tabbed with during his first acting performance.

“It’s quite an honor that I was chosen to tell the story of Henry Lewis Whitfield to hundreds of people,” said Cosby, a junior at MSMS.

This marks the 28th year of the Tales From The Crypt performance.

During the performance Monday night, Cosby chose to research Henry Lewis Whitfield and bring him to life.

“He was both the governor of Mississippi and a president of what is now the MUW, so he had several lasting impacts on the city of Columbus and the state of Mississippi,” Cosby expressed.

Cosby said his research on Whitfield turned out to be insightful, and he realized the two actually shared a common interest.

“He definitely shows desire to really educate all people and improve people, so I think that is what I can resonate with,” he said.

The same goes for Hunter Ladner.

“I chose Pat C. O’Malley,” said Ladner, who’s a performer in this years Tales From The Crypt. “His last name is O’Malley, I assumed he was Irish, I was correct. He has red hair, I have red hair, I thought it was a good fit.”

The students said the entire process leading up to the performance was an eye opening experience.

“Twenty-seven weeks ago we were assigned to this project,” Ladner explained. “We started researching our person, we eventually had to turn in a research paper and a script, and as soon as we we turned in our script, we performed them for a group of judges, chose performers, and started practicing. That was around like December and we’ve been practicing every Wednesday.

However, throughout the process, not only were students able to get a history lesson, they also had the chance to discover and develop skills they can now carry with them beyond the acting realm.

“I definitely learned to be better at how to present myself when speaking to people in a way that I’m not just shifting around a bunch, and being more decisive when speaking.”

Monday night was the Grand Opening of the Tales From The Crypt performances.

For a full list of times and dates of the remaining showings, visit http://www.visitcolumbusms.org/event/tales-from-the-crypt-2/2018-04-13/ for more information.