Lawrence C. Connolly's Blog, page 9

This Week on Mystery Theatre:A Challenge to the Listener

It’s really a simple matter. I maintain that at this point […] you have all the facts in your possession essential to a clear solution of the mystery.

The mystery writing team Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee (writing under the pseudonym Ellery Queen) used to include the above statement toward the end of their books. The idea was to give the reader time to consider the story’s clues and come up with a solution before moving on to the reveal in the final pages.

The gimmick was so popula...

This Week on Mystery Theatre:Cracking the Code

The 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 version of tap code (also known as knock code) depicted in Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano, a novel that a recent report on NPR...

This Week on Mystery Theatre:There’s Something in the Basement

 

Who’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 … and pieces of furniture that the theatre company inherited … [read more at The 21st-Century Scop].

The post This Week on Mystery Theatre:
There’s Something in the Basement first appeared on Lawren...

This Week on Mystery Theatre:There’s Something in the Basement

 

Who’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 … and pieces of furniture that the theatre company inherited when it took over the building in 1999.

And somewhere within that mass of stuff is a wardrobe with two massive doors, each decorated wi...

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

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.

  Ghost Stories of the Pittsburgh Playhouse .

But before diving into this new mystery, I had the chance to meet with … [read more at The 21st-Century Scop.]

The post Investigating a Playhouse Ghost:
What is the Sound of One Ghost Clapping? first appeared on LawrenceCConnolly.com.

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 and his father (also Michael Brendan) to talk about an encounter with the Pittsburgh Playhouse ghost known as John Johns.

Above: An actor portrays the g...

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 neighborhood. Instead, when the young are able to fly, you fit their entry point with a one-way door. Exit only. That way, they get locked out and (one hopes) don’t get back in some other...

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 … [read more at The 21st Century Scop].

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. After all, it worked for Mary Shelley.

And if you’d like to read an account of how a house-bound night at Villa Diodati fired a young writer’s muse, I’m pleased to announce that my adaptation of Mary Shelley’s ...

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 Ghost Light’s Glow” (available December 1)—I thought we might … [read more at The 21st-Century Scop].