Tag: Prime Stage Mystery Theatre
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This Week on Mystery Theatre:
Cracking the CodeThe irregular tapping came from the other side of the sheet-metal wall that separated Paul’s and Harold’s cell from the totally enclosed tank for desperados next door. Experimentally, Paul tapped on his side. “Twenty-three—eight-fifteen,” came the reply. Paul recognized the schoolboy’s code: one for A, two for B … twenty-three—eight-fifteen” was “Who?” That’s a rudimentary…
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This Week on Mystery Theatre:
There’s Something in the BasementWho’s there? Here’s the setup: You’re in the basement of a theatre building. Alone. The rest of the company is next door, painting a set on the main stage while you hunt for something called a snow-patterned gobo. The basement is a mess. No organization. Just a chaotic jumble of old props and flats ……
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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…
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A Week of Readings:
HWA, Frankenstein, & Mystery TheatreThe last time I posted about the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Horror Writers Association was back in the halcyon days of 2019 (read that post here) when the effects of pandemics were relegated to films like Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion (2011) or books like John Scalzi’s Lock In (2014) and Stephen King’s The Stand (1978). Back…
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T. P. Cooke’s Demon:
The First Pop-Culture “Frankenstein”An explosion. Fire and smoke. Laboratory doors shatter. The Demon appears in a blast of red flame! That’s how the Frankenstein monster made its entrance in the first dramatic adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel. Loosely adapted by Richard Brinsley Peake and starring actor T. P. Cooke as the monster (referred to as “The Demon” in…
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Writing Mysteries:
Round-Robin StorytellingIn 1995, crime writers Edna Buchanan, Vicki Hendricks, Elmore Leonard, Paul Levine, and Les Standiford and eight of their writing colleagues penned the round-robin mystery novel Naked Came the Manatee. Conceives as a parody of the thriller genre and a response to an earlier multi-author novel titled Naked Came the Stranger (which has 24 writers!),…