14-yr-old Sophia gets under Edgar Allan Poe's skin in outstanding monologue
963 views · Published 6 April 2017 · 2:48 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: EVERYONE MATTERS · 2017 · Nonprofits & Activism
14-year old Sophia Ciraldo wrote and performed a monologue as tortured author Edgar Allan Poe - and received special recognition in Everyone Matters' video challenge, "Putting yourself in others' shoes" - an exercise in empathy. The gifted 14-year-old student at Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in Connecticut explains why she chose to step into Poe's shoes, which she both wrote and performed: "I picked Edgar Allan Poe for this monologue because I feel like he is not scared to show people his strangeness and his dark tendencies. With his short stories and poems there are no gimmicks. He wrote purely because his hardships and stress in life could not be contained only in his mind. He wrote because he had to. In the monologue I was aiming for listeners to understand what he went through and learn about his craziness as much as possible. I portray Edgar as a man who doesn't revel in his fame and who needs to write to escape the world for just a little bit. He needs to get the creepy tales out of his head so he can somewhat cope with the tragic life that surrounds him. But again this is only my opinion and the only person who knows the full story is Poe himself. "The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our soul," adds Sophia. Sophia was encouraged and guided by her Media Arts and Creative Writing instructor, Anna Guarco. Sophia also gives screen credit tp Andrew Reardon, Faith Heywood, Scott Timothy, Dakota Estabrook and Meaghan Lamontagne. Everyone Matters is a global initiative that encourages empathy and understanding of others, and ourselves; everyone's right to dignity and respect, and to thrive in their own unique individuality. For more information, visit http://www.Everyone-Matters.com
