Settings are a huge part of any novel, no matter what genre. As a writer, I’m always on the lookout for a good place for my stories to play out that can sometimes give them both the tools and challenges to help drive the plot along.
I’ve been lucky to find ideal locations in the small town I currently live in. I’ve used a local coffee shop, Mochaberry, and turned it into Java Jo’s in my Wild Blue Mystery series as well as a local bookstore, BookLore, which transformed into Tales and Retales for Katie Mullins to manage in the same series. Using a coffee shop and a bookstore for backdrops for novels has been done many times before, and so has one other setting.
I’m blessed to work in a great old building I plan to use in a book one day. Many mysteries have been set in theatres and have encompassed community theatre right up to professional theatre. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham, Maskerade by Terry Pratchett, and The Jumbee by Pamela Keyes (a modern take on Phantom) are but a few in a long list. Television series are ripe with episodes that take place in theatres as well. Murder She Wrote had several. Even Riverdale focused on a murder in a theatre in once season.
In working with actors, musicians, administrators, staff and crew behind the scenes, I keep thinking one day I’ll write a play or a mystery set in our theatre. What’s so great about our theatre?
The original portions of our building were erected in 1875 and had multiple purposes. Out back were military buildings where ammunitions were stored. The main building housed a slaughter house, stables, town hall, and a community room used for meetings of all sorts and for local theatre. The chairs were foldable so the “stage” could be relocated from one end of the room to the other and the room could suit any purpose. As the years passed, big business decided the old building was of little use so they would demolish it to build a grocery store. That was nearly 30 years ago. I’m happy to report the townsfolk fought back.
Our theatre is in its 26th season. The once frowned upon building has been restored and town offices added in back. The theatre has been through a couple renovations to add a large, built in stage, seats bolted into place, and a sound/tech booth. We have gone from being a community summer theatre to an incredible professional theatre that offers shows all year round. We also have put on shows like A Midsummer Night’s Dream that included both equity and non-equity performers, our summer students, and members of the community who are challenged in various ways.
In the middle of all of that progress and innovation, there is a ghost. Our ghost has been the subject of ghost hunters yet, as many times as I’ve been in the building alone, I’ve never seen her, which is probably a good thing.
That ghost is what has prompted my fascination with writing about a murder in our theatre. While I create the novel, I'll be looking for more evidence and stories about out ghost. Well, that and unruly patrons or performers…
One of the things that makes a theatre so attractive to mystery writers is that there are so many ways for a murder to happen. A “fight scene” gone wrong, props that turn out to be real weapons, costume malfunctions, falling lights, trap doors with faulty latches, poisoned “alcohol” in a bottle on stage, characters who are stand-ins who were once slighted in awful ways by the lead actor…
All it takes is a little creativity and anything can lead to murder in a theatre.
Author of Wild Blue Mysteries, Gilda Wright Mysteries, Glitter Bay Mysteries
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