The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe, America250

FAIN: ZZ-310270-25

Ballet Five Eight NFP (Orland Park, IL 60467-4907)
Julianna Rubio Slager (Project Director: August 2025 to present)

Costs related to public and K-12 educational events, as well as artists’ research accompanying a ballet production on the life of Edgar Allan Poe in Chicago, IL.

Ballet 5:8 will present The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe in April 2026, engaging students and the public with Poe’s writings—Eureka, “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart”—through filmed scholar interviews, a free Chicago panel, and standards-aligned classroom materials. NEH support funds the humanities components: scholarly advising, public discussion, captioned video content, and student access for Title I schools. The project celebrates America’s literary heritage for the semiquincentennial by examining Poe’s ideas about grief, beauty, and meaning.

Associated Products

Edgar Allan Poe Virtual Field Trip (Web Resource)
Title: Edgar Allan Poe Virtual Field Trip
Author: Ballet 5:8
Author: Julianna Rubio Slager
Abstract: The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe Virtual Field Trip is an interdisciplinary educational resource developed by Ballet 5:8 that combines filmed performance, literary scholarship, historical interpretation, and public humanities dialogue to explore the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Designed primarily for middle school, high school, library, and community audiences, the virtual field trip introduces students to Poe’s literary works and historical context through dance, theater, music, and humanities-based discussion. The resource includes filmed excerpts and full-performance material from Ballet 5:8’s original full-length ballet The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe, along with recorded conversations featuring humanities scholars and project collaborators. Drawing from Poe’s major literary works — including The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, Annabel Lee, and Eureka — the project examines themes of grief, mortality, memory, race, morality, institutional power, and transcendence within nineteenth-century American culture. Developed in consultation with scholars including Dr. Harry Lee Poe and Christopher Semtner of the Poe Museum, the virtual field trip expands public access to literary humanities through interdisciplinary arts engagement. The resource is intended to support classroom learning, library programming, and lifelong humanities education by providing accessible entry points into American literary history and humanities scholarship. The project also demonstrates how dance and performance can function as tools for literary interpretation, public scholarship, and community dialogue. Through statewide dissemination partnerships, the virtual field trip is intended to reach libraries, schools, educators, and community audiences throughout Illinois and beyond.
Year: 2026
Primary URL: https://www.ballet58.org/virtual-field-trips
Primary URL Description: Virtual Field Trip description for The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe

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