This Thursday and Friday afternoon, Brookhaven high school students will be performing two-minute monologues in memory of those buried in Rosehill Cemetery, and other cemeteries in the area and beyond, as part of an annual class assignment titled “Brookhaven Biographies.”

As part of a walking cemetery tour, members of the First Edition Forensic Team at BHS will deliver monologues that honor the memory and accomplishments of community members, imparting a history lesson as well.

“This is something the kids do every year. They become attached to the characters by the time it’s over,” said Carol Clanton, who teaches oral communication and theater at BHS to ninth through 12th grade students.

The tour is a collaboration between Clanton and Joanna Sproles, also a teacher at BHS, which students have been performing for over 20 years.

The students first present their monologue to Clanton, then they present it to the rest of the class. This year for the first time, the students traveled to Copiah-Lincoln Community College and presented their monologues there. Part of the process is for the audience to critique the performance, helping to mold and edit it into perfection.

Some years, there are occasions when Clanton’s students have been related to the person they are researching. “Although this year none of our students is studying a relative of theirs, … it has happened in the past,” said Clanton.

Often, Clanton has her students use trees instead of tombstones to symbolize those buried elsewhere; this includes much of the African-American community.

The class also selects a figure whose footprint on the world has been significant historically. This year, the class selected Eleanor Roosevelt.

In addition to performing a monologue that educates the community, Clanton says the kids often do their part to make it as authentic as possible.

To accomplish the theatrics, students often dress in clothing from the time that is mimicked from old pictures.

“The guys will dress in suits, sometimes wearing bow ties. The girls will wear longer skirts. Whatever the kids can do to make it as authentic as possible, they will do,” said Clanton.

Besides researching the person in the archives room of the library, students do occasionally talk to relatives of the selected person. This helps the students get a better understanding, a human perspective on the study that can assist them in their monologues, Clanton said. Students take four days to get to know their subject as closely as possible.

“This is a way to live out our history.”

The Brookhaven Biographies will take place this Thursday and Friday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Admission is $3.