Student Writes and Directs Benefit Murder Mystery
Junior English major Scott Riner has written and directed a murder mystery that will be presented on Saturday, Sept. 11, at Our Lady of Loretto Community Center to benefit a local community member.
The murder mystery has a fairy-tale theme. A brief synopsis of it follows:
“Love is in the air! And so is murder…
When Prince Charming decides it’s time to settle down and find himself a queen, he finds it difficult to choose just one lucky lady. In an effort to make the prince’s life easier, his Fairy Godfather organizes a dating game show so that Prince Charming might find his true love without being distracted by her looks—or even his own. But when the game show turns deadly, the prince—and the contestants—begin to wonder which of them will be next.”
Riner said that writing the script was an exercise in creativity.
“I wanted to tell the fairy tales we all know and love, but challenge myself to present it in a way in which no one had ever really thought about it,” Riner said.
“A dating game show just seemed so natural, considering the prince in all the fairy tales shares the same name. Is it the same man? Brothers? Coincidence? Once I decided that it was the same prince, I had the focus of the story.”
The murder mystery performers include sophomore Miranda Weiland and junior Davy Wallen. Weiland plays the role of Snow White and Wallen portrays Prince Charming.
While this is Riner’s directing debut, it is not his first murder mystery.
“I wrote two other murder mysteries to benefit the Patton Public Library in 2015 and 2016,” he said.
Riner said he felt called to write one to benefit June Riner, his aunt and a local elementary school teacher.
“I wanted to do something for my aunt who recently suffered a traumatic injury,” said Riner. “I wanted to help out.”
Tickets for Saturday’s show are $15 for adults, $12 for children ages 3-10, and free for children under 3.
The murder mystery will be accompanied by a sloppy joe dinner. Doors open for the event at 5 p.m.
