Poe Festival Seeks to Scare Up Reading by Youths, Adults

As a way to promote reading within the community, a Silver Spring arts organization is sponsoring more than a score of events about writer Edgar Allen Poe and his work including hosting plays based on the man and his stories, discussions about his work, and screenings of movies based on his stories.

The Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, located on Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, has received a grant for $17,050 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to conduct the programs about Poe and his work as part of the NEA's "Big Read" initiative. The Big Read program seeks to promote reading among Americans, and Pyramid Atlantic is among 75 non profit literacy and arts agencies participating.

Pyramid Atlantic has been interested in promoting reading by teens and adults since 2007, but was not ready to participate in the Big Read until this year, said Catherine Aselford, the organization's development manager.

Under NEA rules guiding the program, grant recipients have to pick a book or an author and implement a program of events dedicated to that work or writer. Pyramid Atlantic determined that it needed "to pick something that will really get the kids reading," therefore, Poe was selected because his work is "so extreme, scary, dark and sometimes funny, that it really appeals to the part of us that just wants to be told a good story," she said.

In addition, Poe's work lends itself to other forms of expression, and since Pyramid Atlantic is a visual arts organization the program includes works inspired by Poe's writing, Aselford said. The programs are scheduled to start with a reception at Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Ave. on Sept. 25, at 5:30 p.m. followed by the one-man play—Poe in Person—performed by David Keltz. Following the play, several short films inspired by Poe's stories are to be screened. Other events, their dates, times and locations are:

• Book discussion, Sept. 28 at 3 p.m. at the Quince Orchard Library, 15831 Quince Orchard Road, Gaithersburg.
• Book discussion, Oct. 7 at 3 p.m. at the Silver Spring Library, 8901 Colesville Road, Silver Spring.
• Book discussion, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. at the Wheaton Library, 11701 Georgia Ave., Wheaton.
• Book discussion, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. at the Twinbrook Library, 202 Meadow Hall Drive, Rockville.
• Poe-a-Thon, Oct. 9 at 2:30 p.m. at the Outdoor Stage, Ellsworth Drive, Downtown Silver Spring; local celebrities will read Poe's poems and stories.
• Cavalcade of Schlock, Oct. 9 at 6 p.m., at Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, screening of a movie based on Poe's work.
• What's Eating Edgar Allen Poe? Oct. 19 at 3:30 p.m. at the Rockville Library, 21 Maryland Ave., Rockville and repeated on Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. at the Long Branch Library, 8800 Garland Ave., Silver Spring.
• Dramatization of the story A Cask of Amontillado Oct. 23 at noon at the Borders Books, 8518 Fenton St., Silver Spring.
• An Evening with (the Ghost of) Eliza Poe, Oct. 28, 8 p.m. at the Writer's Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda.
• Halloween Party & Haunted House, Oct. 30, time to be announced, at Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring.
• Poe-A-Palooza, Oct. 31 2 p.m. at the Writer's Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda.
• Music to the 1928 silent movie The Fall of the House of Usher will be performed by DC Sonic Circuits, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. at Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring.
• Hal Poe, a cousin of Poe's, is to speak at the Biennial Book Arts Fair, Nov. 7, 2:30 p.m. at the Silver Spring Civic Center, 850 Ellsworth Drive.
• Closing Reception, Nov. 13, 6:30 p.m. at ArtSpring, 8519 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring.