Oral interpretation class holds “Scary Story” night

The oral interpretation class held a “Scary Story” event on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25 to showcase the work they had been doing in the class. The event, which was about an hour long, consisted of students reading and enacting scary literature in front of an audience of students and parents in the Little Theater.

While scary stories emerge every Halloween, some of these stories had a twist.

“[The students performed] things that are either scary because they are actually frightening works written by the likes of H.P. Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe, or scary in ways that they are really badly written examples of literature that are not very good, but funny to hear,” said oral interpretation and drama teacher Chris Mahle.

Each student was required to perform their scary stories in front of the audience for a total of 10 minutes, said Mahle. During some performances, other students on stage acted out what was being read.

“I originally came to the performance only because my friend was performing and I really didn’t have high expectations for it,” said sophomore Navneet Ramesh. “But after watching the program, I was really impressed with all of the performances”

Around 35 students attended the performance on Friday, which was free of charge. The Little Theatre was decorated with “scary” props, including plastic bloody heads and fog machines.

“Sound and lights [were] provided by the advanced drama class, who supported [the oral interpretation class] and helped make their production as professional as possible,” said Mahle.

Students involved in the performance came prepared with a book full of their respective roles.

“We had to get material together from scary stories or poorly written pieces of literature, put it together in a black binder and then rehearse it multiple times on the stage.,” said sophomore Keerti Shukla, who was one of the students who performed in the event.

The class, which was newly introduced this year for freshmen and sophomores, will continue to put on performances throughout the year, including a more formal oral interpretation presentation in the McAfee towards the end of first semester.

“I thought the event was a great success overall,” said sophomore Soorya Rangan, who also participated in the event. “I was a little nervous at first, but when I started, I found that it was really a lot of fun. I can’t wait for the next presentation.”