"HORROR SCHOLAR" JEFF THOMPSON TO GIVE LECTURE AT COLUMBIA STATE
Event Free and Open to the Public

Jeff Thompson, assistant professor of English at Tennessee State University, will present a lecture at Columbia State Community College on Monday, November 2, at 12:30 p.m. in Ledbetter Auditorium. The lecture will be about his recent book, The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis.

Curtis, a popular television producer in the 1960s and 1970s, pioneered a new breed of popular horror shows that were motivated by character, continuing story arcs, and a strong awareness of the genre literature of horror fiction. In Curtis' productions, knowing the background story of the various horror characters was essential to understanding the complex and serpentine plots.

"Unlike early horror fiction that depended on supernatural elements, Curtis' creepy characters were often multi-leveled, flawed, sympathetic, resourceful, and likely to return again and again. Often times a stake would not keep Curtis' characters down," said Stuart Lenig, professor of speech and drama at Columbia State.

Curtis is most famous for his sixties horror soap opera, Dark Shadows. Thompson - often noted as a "horror scholar," will discuss the career of Curtis, the Dark Shadows series, and Curtis' other contributions to horror television.

The event is free and open to the public. "Thompson will likely sign copies of his book for audience members," added Lenig.

Ledbetter Auditorium is located in the Clement building on Columbia State's Columbia Campus. For more information, contact Mike Darrell at (931) 540-2714 or Stuart Lenig at (931) 540-2877 or slenig@columbiastate.edu.

Columbia State is a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in southern Middle Tennessee with locations in Columbia, Franklin, Lawrenceburg, Lewisburg and Clifton. As Tennessee's first community college, Columbia State is committed to increasing access and enhancing diversity at all five campuses. Columbia State is a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents, the sixth largest higher education system in the nation. For more information, please visit www.columbiastate.edu.