Published: July 05, 2009 08:33 pm      

Neighborhood fundraising with mystery theater

ASHLAND — It’s no mystery why Neighbors Helping Neighbors is bringing “Killing Mr. Winters” to Ashland: It hopes the interactive musical murder mystery will raise money for the renovation of the former Johnson’s Dairy into a permanent home for CAReS, River Cities Harvest, The Dressing Room, the Community Kitchen and Ashland Area Presbyterian Ministries.

At the same time, supporters of Neighbors Helping Neighbors hope those attending the mystery will be entertained by the parody of Alfred Hitchcock movies and fed well by the buffet dinner served just before the show.

The night of dinner and theater will be Saturday at the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center with the doors opening at 6 p.m., the buffet dinner being served at 6:30 and the play beginning at 7. Cost is $25 per person.

Fantastical Theatricals, a professional theater company based in Lexington, will present the play written by David Landau with music and lyrics by Nikki Stern.

Kathy Hopkins, producer of Fantastical Theatricals, said the troupe was created in September of 2005 and did its first shows in a train car at the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven. Hopkins co-wrote the first show, which was not interactive because of the lack of space in the railcar.

The group next performed “Bitter Bourbon Blues,” a murder mystery commissioned by the railway museum to celebrate Bourbon Days, an annual event in nearby Bardstown.

From that rather modest beginning, Fantastical Theatricals has now expanded to producing four or five shows a year for performances throughout Kentucky

While the Ashland show is a fundraiser, Hopkins said the acting troupe also performs in restaurants, at Kentucky state parks (including Carter Caves) and in large and small theaters throughout the state.

“We’ve done everything from private parties to large performances at state parks and in theaters,” Hopkins said. “We like the challenge of doing the same show in different settings. We’ll try anything. We’re kind of crazy like that.”

While “Killing Mr. Winters” is billed at a spoof of a Hitchcock thriller, Hopkins said the show most reminds her of “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” which is not a Hitchcock movie.

Because the play is interactive, members of the audience can become characters in the show, Hopkins said. “We try to involve as many people as we can in as many different ways as we can,” she said. “That’s part of the fun.”

Audience members are also asked for their solution to the mystery, with prizes going to those who correctly identify the killer. Audience members also will be asked to identify how many names of Hitchcock movies are mentioned in the show.

“Killing Mr. Withers” is directed by Charlie Bissell, a 1985 graduate of Paul G. Blazer High School, who now lives in Lexington.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors was created six years ago with the dream of putting as many agencies that help the needy under one roof as possible. The group has purchased and paid off the loan for the former dairy, and CAReS and River Cities Harvest already are in the building at 25th Street and Carter Avenue. However, more money is needed to renovate the building into homes for the Community Kitchen, the Dressing Room (a.k.a. Federated Charities) and Ashland Area Presbyterians Ministries.

Once it is in the former dairy, Community Kitchen — which serves free lunches five days a week and dinners two evenings a week at Calvary Episcopal Church — plans to begin serving lunch and dinner seven days a week.

The Dressing Room is the oldest of the five agencies that are part of Neighbors Helping Neighbors and has outgrown its current home on 19th Street. It provides both adult and children’s clothing free of charge.

Ashland Area Presbyterian Ministries plans to offer showers, laundry facilities and mailboxes for the homeless in the renovated building.

A limited number of tickets still are available for “Killing Mr. Withers.” They can be reserved by calling Trish Hall, executive director of CAReS, at (606) 324-2949 or by e-mail at trish@boydcountycares.org.

JOHN CANNON can be reached at jcannon@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2649.