Mystery and a meal

By NANCILYNN GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
It was a typical day at Mount Olympus for the gods Aphrodite, Apollo, Dionysius, Eres, Athena and Adonis. They were enjoying their immortal lives of leisure, when a murder occurs.
"Murder on the Mount" begins the second year of murder mystery dinner theater at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex. The play takes place in the world of the gods, but as in any good murder mystery there is also audience interaction to hint at whodunit.
"I'm a big believer in Steve Allen and Carol Burnett and some of those approaches," said playwright Jan Kennedy. "Also I write in mistakes. Some of the funniest things that Red Skelton and Steve Allen ever did were the things that were ad-libs. I found out later that about half of those were actually written in. Audiences love it when you're really no better than they are. You're the star up there, but you screw up just like they do. You write a few mistakes in and then the actors write their own along the way and ad lib their way out of it. It's a totally over-the-top comedy."
A typical murder mystery
Typically, a murder mystery consists of five to six characters and a murder that needs to be solved. Throughout the action, clues are given to hint at the identity of the murderer. The audience receives a paper to fill out stating who they think committed the crime. Between the second and third acts their answers are collected, and some members will win fun prizes.
Kennedy is like the Clark Kent of the literary world. He writes for The Canton Repository by night, covering the cop beat and other sections, but by day, he is writing and editing murder-mystery dinner theater shows.
"I went to one in Canal Fulton a couple of times. I thought, these are all stock characters. I could write one," said Kennedy.
He did write one.
"There used to be [a] writers' conference at Kent State-Stark. One year a category was plays. This was not what I call a play. It was murder mystery dinner theater. I submitted it anyway. It won second place," said Kennedy.
After winning his prize, Kennedy was encouraged to seek a venue to present his play.
"There's a place called Atwood Lake Lodge here. I talked to the guy who owned it. He said, 'I've been wanting to fill up some nights in the winter.' He only had five dates. We did those five shows. We sold out the last three nights, so I thought I could do this," said Kennedy.
Expanded
He expanded into other areas after successful shows in the Canton area.
"I was looking for places to do the plays. I did it at Atwood Lodge and it's out in the middle of nowhere. I was thinking my niche might be the smaller areas. Give people something to do and they'll do it. You don't want to go too small though," he said.
When putting together his second season at The MetroPlex, Kennedy needed a director. The first season's director couldn't fit the show into a busy schedule. A local actor, Jim Petuch, helped to put Kennedy in touch with J.E. Ballantyne Jr. Petuch performed in last season's production, "Canoli Capers." Ballentyne is an experienced member of the Youngstown area theater community.
"I've done a lot of heavy dramas and standard musicals. This is just a little break. I thought it would be fun. It's nice working with a small cast because you can give everybody a little more detail," said Ballantyne.
The playwright wants audience members to enjoy themselves too.
"I just write things that people can have fun with. It's Friday night. They've worked all week. They don't want to think too much. They want to laugh. They want to have a good time. They want a good meal," said Kennedy.