Night of murder to help Niagara arts group
It’ll be murder for a good cause in Chippawa June 3.
The scene will be 1949 Hollywood. The corpse will be the director of a star-studded movie. The suspects? Everyone in the cast of local playwright Tresa Rees’ cheeky mystery Murder in the Stars.
The intrigue goes down at the Chippawa Lions Club, with all funds going to the Niagara Arts Showcase, a group dedicated to opening new doors for Niagara’s artists.
“I think everybody wants to be a detective,” says Rees, who has written 25 murder mysteries since 1999. “Everybody watches stuff like this on TV and I think they really enjoy getting into the whole idea of trying to figure out the clues and stuff, to really dive into why people would commit a murder.
“We try to do it in a fun way so people get some entertainment out of it.”
Rees, who is also in the cast, got hooked on murder mysteries after seeing one set in a funeral home in Vineland nearly 20 years ago. She has been cranking them out since, most all of them fundraisers for the Chippawa Lions Club.
“I’ve got to think of new ways to kill people,” she says on her milestone 25th play.
The biggest challenge, though, is adapting the musty old formula to today’s technology.
“Cell phones,” she says. “You used to be able to say, ‘Oh I can’t call because the phone doesn’t work,’ but now everybody has a cell phone. It can be a little bit challenging, however I’m actually going to work technology into them. You can only turn out the lights on people so many times.”
The show also stars Edie Pedersen, Alex Pedersen, Laurie Rees, Dalton Bolton, Barbara Whinyates, Marah Whittard and one still to be announced.
Rees was introduced to the Niagara Arts Showcase by board member Ashlee Standish and was impressed with their efforts.
“I try to stand by the local artists in this town, especially since I’m one of them,” she says.