Author: Lawrence C. Connolly

  • Investigating a Playhouse Ghost:What is the Sound of One Ghost Clapping?

    Investigating a Playhouse Ghost:
    What is the Sound of One Ghost Clapping?

    The story behind a real-life theatre mystery. This month’s five-act installment of Prime Stage Mystery Theatre picks up where our previous story left off, with mysterious sounds emanating from somewhere in a theatre building. But before diving into this new mystery, I had the chance to meet with writer and martial arts enthusiast Michael Brendan…

  • Next on Mystery Theatre:Dragons, Ciphers, & Two Locked Doors

    Next on Mystery Theatre:
    Dragons, Ciphers, & Two Locked Doors

    A few years ago, I discovered bats in the attic. A whole family nesting in the rafters. After consulting the local critter specialist, I learned that evicting a bat family is a bit more involved than eradicating carpenter ants. You can just exterminate them. Nor can you trap them and take them to someone else’s…

  • Creating Frankenstein:
    Now Available at Scripts for Stage

    Temperatures drop. Snow falls. Time to hole up inside, light a fire, and catch up on the latest books and movies. Or … if you’re a 21st-century scop … it might be a good time to take the Lord Byron stormy-night challenge and get to work on that novel or script you’ve been thinking about.…

  • This Week on Mystery Theatre:The “Three-Things” Writing Prompt

    This Week on Mystery Theatre:
    The “Three-Things” Writing Prompt

    Lately I’ve become a fan of crazy unrelated ideas being woven into the fabric of a story. So writes best-selling mystery writer Jordan Dane in a blog about what has been called the three-things writing prompt. It’s a great way for jumpstarting the muse, and—as it ties in with this week’s episode of “In the…

  • This Week on Mystery Theatre:Ghosts & Stories

    This Week on Mystery Theatre:
    Ghosts & Stories

    In response to last week’s post “The Most Haunted Place in Pittsburgh,” Facebook friend Michael Brendan informs us that his father actually had an encounter with a Playhouse ghost. “It was John,” Michael writes, referring to the ghost of deceased thespian John Johns. “Dad saw him once in the seats after a show had ended.…

  • This Week on Mystery Theatre:The Most Haunted Place in Pittsburgh

    This Week on Mystery Theatre:
    The Most Haunted Place in Pittsburgh

    For two weeks running, audiences who attended Prime Stage Theatre’s production of Frankenstein witnessed a haunting at the New Hazlett Theatre. Of course, it was part of the performance, with actor Suzanne Ward appearing as the white-clad spirit of Victor Frankenstein’s mother. <<< The ghost of Caroline Frankenstein haunts her son’s laboratory in Prime Stage’s…