Students from Little Rock's Parkview Arts/Science Magnet High School bring to life Arkansans buried in Mount Holly Cemetery for "Tales of the Crypt," shifting this year to daylight hours, with tours 2-4 p.m. (the last one ending at 5) Sunday at the cemetery, 1200 Broadway, Little Rock.
Following a two-year, pandemic-caused hiatus, costumed actors will be back among the tombstones, performing vignettes from the lives of Arkansans buried at Mount Holly. The students, under the direction of Tamara Zinck, will have researched the characters and prepared scripts based on facts of their lives and general history of their times. Student guides will lead the living to the performance sites around the grounds, while providing history lessons and context.
"Tales of the Crypt" debuted in October 1995, but didn't take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic. The organizers decided this year to move it to a Sunday and change the time to the afternoon to ensure the safety of actors, guides and guests, according to a news release, as crowds have exceeded 1,000 people in recent years and tour paths cover uneven ground. (It's a good idea to wear walking shoes.)
On the East Side Tour, Diego Ladino and Baylee Castleberry will portray John Gould Fletcher and Charlie May Simon. Moriah Mitchell and Whit Weatherton will perform the roles of Sallie and Sanborn Faulkner. Michael Hatfield will take on young Confederate hero David Owen Dodd. Lucy Eells and Lila Bass will portray Dovenia Skelton Kirby and Annie Skelton, with Richard Baird and Zaryah Smith as Frank and Eliza Miller and Keith McGee and Mckenzie Landry as Henry and Susan Springs.
On the West Side Tour, Derrick Billingsley and Marionna Parker portray Nathan and Ann Warren, with Angelina Bearden as Eliza Hall Caulder, Dayana Torres and Dylan Sykes as Quatie and John Ross, Marseiko Jackson and Camille Gardner as George and Maria Rebecca Craigen, Avery Turner and Fiona McFarlane as Jesse and Louisa Clark Brown and Beatrice Robinson as Hazel Wilson Burr.
Admission is free; contributions help defray production expenses. Enter through the 13th Street Gate on the cemetery's south side and exit through the westside Gaines Street Gate. The Broadway Gate will not be accessible.
Sponsors are Crow-Burlingame/Bumper to Bumper and Ron Fuller. Email Tamara.Zinck@lrsd.org or judybgoss@gmail.com.