Festival Survives Major Plot Twists: Event Starts Today, Concludes June 21
By Beth Wilberding, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
Jun. 12–Organizing the 2008 International Mystery Writers Festival, Discovering New Mysteries has had the plot twists of the genre it promotes.
In January, festival officials weren’t sure if the event would take place because it wasn’t part of Gov. Steve Beshear’s proposed budget.
Planning pushed forward through April, when organizers found out the mystery festival wasn’t placed in the 2008-10 state budget.
Local donors, sponsors and funds from the city and county governments helped organizers raise enough money to keep the mystery festival going.
As planning progressed for the mystery festival, which begins today and lasts through June 21, the event took another twist when RiverPark Center officials learned Friday the Executive Inn Rivermont was closing.
Many cast and crew members had already been staying at the hotel, and people were moved to different hotels Sunday. Officials have been working with festival patrons to help them find alternative lodging.
“It has all been more difficult than most any project I can think of, and I’m going back 50 years,” said Zev Buffman, president and CEO of the RiverPark Center. “It’s funny that I share that with my staff and my boards … In all the years and all the projects, and Lord knows there’s been enough of them, I don’t quite remember something that ended up as difficult as this one.”
Despite the obstacles, 14 productions will premiere during the 11-day festival, and there will be more than 90 book signings, master classes and other events that are free and open to the public.
Several well-known authors and celebrities will be attending the festival, including Mary Higgins Clark, two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman and Josh Hutcherson, a Kentucky native and up-and-coming young actor who is starring with Brendan Fraser in “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”
Anthony E. Zuiker, creator and executive producer of the “CSI” television franchise, and Rene Balcer, head writer for “Law and Order” and co-creator of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” are among the many writers who will be attending the festival.
“(This year) we were in position to get major important guest artists and producers, leaders of the industries in many ways, to be here with us and share this and be a part of it.”
The official grand opening ceremony is at 5 tonight in the RiverPark Center lobby. Three shows will premiere tonight: Agatha Christie’s “Chimneys” in Cannon Hall at the Riverpark Center; “The Last Appointment” at Theatre Workshop of Owensboro and “Flemming: An American Thriller” in the Jody Berry Cabaret Theatre at the RiverPark Center.
“The Last Appointment” is a psychological drama about a female detective who must fight her own demons while searching for a serial killer. “Flemming: An American Thriller” is a mystery farce full of twists and turns about an unassuming middle-aged man who decided to become a private detective in the midst of a midlife crisis.
TWO and Cannon Hall shows are stage plays, and performances in the Jody Berry Cabaret Theatre are Live Radio Theatre productions, which are performed in a manner similar to old-fashioned radio shows.
An opening night cast party will be held at 9 tonight in the RiverPark Center lobby and is open to the public.
Tonight is also the U.S. premiere of “Chimneys.” The work was lost for more than 70 years before copies of it were found in 2003 and 2006, and the play has been staged in Calgary and Scotland, the Messenger-Inquirer previously reported.
“It’s exciting to be part of this first one in the U.S.,” said Tim Gregory, who plays Anthony Cade.
“Chimneys” takes place in England during the mid-1930s and is a “whodunit and where is it,” said Lesley Bevan, who is playing Virginia Revel.
“There’s a murder, and something is lost in the house,” she said.
There is also intrigue as governments are bidding to have control over a small country where oil has been discovered, said John Lister, who will portray Chief Inspector Battle.
Performing in a mystery is different from other drama because, instead of emotion only, “information is vital to the audience,” Gregory said.
“Chimneys” is directed by Brian Bedford, a Tony Award-winning actor who has also directed and starred in many works at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario.
“He’s definitely an actor’s director,” Lister said.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
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