Archive for the ‘events’ Category

Edgar Allan Poe at the ballet

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

poe3.jpg

The 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday has not gone unnoticed among mystery readers.

A plethora of short story collections, novels, tributes and more have honored the man considered the father of the American detective story.

While Poe’s work has been adapted for film and stage, the New York City-based Dances Patrelle has a new approach.

Dances Patrelle’s 20th Repertory Season kicks off April 16 to 19 with a world premiere of Murder at the Masque: The Casebook of Edgar Allan Poe, which may be the world’s first true mystery ballet.

The ballet will be performed at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, 68th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues in New York City.

The ballet will feature characters and settings drawn from Poe’s stories and poems. At the ballet, Lord Roderick Usher (danced by Royal ballet alum Matthew Dibble) has been murdered, everyone at the Masquerade is a suspect, and world famous detective Auguste Dupin (danced by Movin’ Out alum Alex Brady) is on the case.

Will the audience be able to figure out the murderer before Dupin does?

Murder at the Masque: The Casebook of Edgar Allan Poe is choreographed by Francis Patrelle to a commissioned score by Patrick Soluri (Madame X), based on an original story by Justin Allen (Slaves of the Shinar), with sets by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith, costumes by Rita B. Watson, and lighting by David Grill, according to Justin Allen of Dances Patrelle.

Judging from the beautiful poster that accompanies this blog, the ballet should be quite interesting.

The company is also reviving fan-favorite Come Rain/Come Shine featuring songs sung by Judy Garland, a ballet for three couples set inside a boxing ring. OK, so Come Rain/Come Shine isn’t mystery oriented, but it sounds interesting.

Dances Patrelle’s 20th anniversary performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday April 16; 8 p.m. Friday April 17 and Saturday April 18; and at 3 p.m. Sunday April 19.

Tickets are $20 for all performances with a few special patron tickets at $100.

Tickets are on sale now. Call the Kaye Playhouse at 212-772-4448.

PHOTO: The basic design for the scrim for The House of Usher;
design is by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith.

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LEFT COAST CRIME AWARDS

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

Fresh from the Awards Banquet this morning at Left Coast Crime in gorgeous Hawaii!

THE BRUCE ALEXANDER MEMORIAL HISTORICAL MYSTERY
A historical mystery, covering events before 1950

**Kelli Stanley: Nox Dormienda, A Long Night For Sleeping (Five Star)

Nominees:

Tasha Alexander: A Fatal Waltz (HarperCollins)
Rhys Bowen: A Royal Pain (Berkley Prime Crime)
Rhys Bowen: Tell Me Pretty Maiden (St. Martin’s)
Laurie R. King: Touchstone (Bantam)

HAWAII FIVE-O

Beset law enforcement, police procedural

**Neil S. Plakcy: Mahu Fire (Alyson Books)

Nominees:

Baron Birtcher: Angels Fall (Iota)
Kate Flora: The Angel of Knowlton Park (Five Star)
Asa Larsson: The Black Path (Delta)
G.M. Malliet: Death of a Cozy Writer (Midnight Ink)

Karin Slaughter: Fractured (Delacorte)

THE LEFTY

Best humorous mystery

**Tim Maleeny: Greasing the Pinata (Poisoned Pen Press)

Nominees:

Donna Andrews: Six Geese a-Slaying (St. Martin’s)
Jeffrey Cohen: It Happened One Knife (Berkley Prime Crime)
Sue Ann Jaffarian: Thugs and Kisses (Midnight Ink)
N.M. Kelby: Murder at the Bad Girl’s Bar and Grill (Shaye Areheart Books/Random House Group)
Rita Lakin: Getting Old is To Die For (Dell/Bantam)

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Sleuthfest: A different kind of conference

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

There must be a dozen or more conferences for those interested in mystery fiction.

For me, the top four in the U.S. are Bouchercon, Malice Domestic,  Left Coast Crime, (this year in Hawaii where Kate and Brian are now) and Sleuthfest.

While the others are geared toward the fans, Sleuthfest focuses on the craft of writing. It’s designed to help unpublished authors, new authors and those with a few books to their credit improve their writing skills. Panels focus on devising plots, shaping characters, crisp dialogue as well as crime scene detection and insiders’ views of the publishing industry.

Sleuthfest is organized by the Florida chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. Being from Florida, naturally I’ve been to every Sleuthfest since it was first organized in the mid-’90s.

I admit that a few of those Sleuthfests didn’t resonate with me. Maybe because so many conferences meant hearing the same thing over and over. Maybe I was just burned out on conferences for a while.

But the past three or four Sleuthfests have been spot-on. It seems a new kind of energy has been moving through Sleuthfest making the panels and discussions seem new. Sure, we are hearing the same topics on panels as we did before, but there’s a spark that has made them seem fresh.

bradpress.jpgThis year’s Sleuthfest featured two guest speakers, John Hart and Brad Meltzer (at left), in addition to a group of quality authors.

My compliments to the organizers of Sleuthfest who are probably taking a long nap about now….before they start planning next year’s Sleuthfest.

I will frequently be posting blogs based on Sleuthfest panels both at this Mystery Scene magazine blog and at the Sun Sentinel’s Off the Page blog.

If you attended, post your comments here, please.

Posted in Florida, Sleuthfest, Writers Conference, events | 2 Comments »