Prime Stage Mystery Theatre: Recent Episodes
Lawrence C. Connolly
Get out your spy glasses and notepads and prepare to take part in a behind-the-scenes adventure that explores the intersection of life and storytelling - an investigation in which you will discover that mysteries are everywhere.
Can a key open a door without a keyhole? And if it does, what new surprise might be waiting inside? Get ready for some unexpected possibilities when the dragon-headed doors swing wide to release the ælf in the wardrobe.
If you are going to communicate with a medieval ælf, you will need to speak its language. Today's episode features an interview with Old English scholar Dr. Patrick Conner (read a transcript by clicking here) and some surprising revelations that tie in with our previous mystery "In the Ghostlight's Glow." Get ready for some big surprises ... and some important clues that may be hiding in plain sight.
Can the arrangement of carved squares on the doors of our story's locked wardrobe provide a clue for decoding the tapping sounds coming from within? And what about the red-and-white dragons in the center of each square? Could they possibly help determine the language of the coded message? Find out in today’s episode, then click here if you’d like to see some of the charts and alphabets mentioned in today’s installment.
There's more than one system for transmitting a message as a series of taps. Morse code may be the best known. But there's another that's been around since ancient times. You will hear about it in today's episode. After that, click here to learn more.
Strange tapping sounds in a theatre building lead you to a locked wardrobe decorated with dragon heads. Could the sounds be a coded message? Listen carefully, then click here for a special Mystery Theatre supplement in which two of our listeners investigate a ghostly mystery from our previous episode.
Trapdoors, projectors, smoke, and mirrors—all have been used to bring ghostly apparitions to the stage. But can any of them account for the figure you saw standing in the ghost light’s glow? Today's episode provides the answer plus a special mystery challenge that you can explore further by clicking here.
What happens when the cast and crew of "Mary and the Monster" gather for a ghost watch in a haunted theatre? Find out in today’s episode, then click here for more stories about haunted stages, dressing rooms, and balconies.
When August LaFleur arrives on the scene to join your paranormal investigation, you soon realize that logical explanations alone may not solve the mystery of the specter in the ghost light's glow.
What is a ghost light? Is it bad luck to break one? And can that possibly be the ghost of Mary Shelley approaching from the theatre lobby? One thing's for sure, this mystery is shaping up to be more confounding than all the others.
Following a rehearsal for a play based on the life of Mary Shelley, you return to the darkened theatre to find a mysterious stranger standing on the stage. Is it a ghost? An intruder? And what does it have to do with a collection of props gathered from the theatre’s basement? One thing's for sure, this may be the most confounding mystery you have yet encountered.
When murder is on the menu, twelve dinner guests employ round-robin storytelling to uncover the plot. Find out what happens next in today’s episode, and then click here if you’d like to learn more about round-robin storytelling. It’s a fun way to discover that stories are everywhere.
What do two painted landscapes and a two-faced portrait reveal about the names Ms. Ambertin, Sam Stein, and Sam D. Winter? And what possible connection can the trophy of a saber-tooth boar have with Dr. Werner? So many questions, but one thing's for sure: you'll flip when you find the answers.
Today’s puzzle centers on 12 enigmatic place cards and the bistable portrait of a woman (click here to learn more about her). It’s enough to confound even a master sleuth, and yet--according to August LaFleur--everything you need to solve the mystery may be hanging right before your eyes.
Has the Obnoxious Padre wine been poisoned? Is the Roast'd Knife IPA safe to drink? The key to finding out these and other hidden meanings may lie in the connection between the theatre events titled "Unequal Times" and "Unquiet Meals."
Would you drink a bottle of wine labeled “Obnoxious Padre”? How about an ale labeled “Roast'd Knife” or "Stained Fork"? August LaFleur believes that making the right choice could be a matter of life and death.
You're back from the end of time, but what new surprises await you as you return to the clock room? Find out in today's episode, where you will also hear about a special offer for Mystery Theatre listeners. Click here for more details.
Which classic time-travel novel would you use to escape the clock room? Find out in today’s installment, then click here for links to time-travel recommendations from folks active in the fields of science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and horror.
Hidden clues can be difficult to see, but sometimes the more elusive ones can be right in front of your eyes. Take, for example, the case of the hidden camera in the theatrical event “Unequal Times.”
What mystery lies beyond the door reading WAY OUT? Find out in today's installment, where you will also hear Prime Stage fans discussing a clock-room diagram that you can find by clicking here
The circular room has twelve locked doors, each positioned like the hours of a clock and labeled with a random word or phrase. Your challenge, find a way to open the doors before timeruns out.
What happens when you try catching a thief in a trap full of monsters? Find out as the New Towne Players stage an unscripted confrontation in which nothing is as it seems.
After examining the clues and finally identifying a culprit, you might think the next logical step would be calling the authorities. But a reality TV host has a different idea—one that may result in considerable danger to all involved.
What do you do when a perfect solution proves untrue? Today’s episode features a number of plausible solutions and a series of challenging contradictions—all moving you closer to the realization that “when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
What lies beyond the devil’s door? Find out as you follow August LaFleur into the smoky shadows of a region “commonly referred to as hell.” This episode also features a brilliant reply to last week’s mystery question, submitted to us from Professor Gina Wisker of Cambridge, England. A full transcript of Dr. Wisker’s comment can be read here: The Devil's Door-Professor Gina Wisker of Cambridge, England
How do you get a reality-TV crew into a locked theatre without interrupting a dress rehearsal for Frankenstein? Mystery writer August LaFleur claims he has a solution. Unfortunately, it involves passing through something called a devil’s door.
Mystery solved! Or is it? You may have found your missing actor, but the story of his disappearance is not as clear as it seems. Get ready for some final surprises as August LaFleur reveals that a good story need not be bound by the reality that inspires it.
The clock is ticking. In a few minutes, you’ll be needed to be on stage – but right now you’re hot on the trail of your missing co-star. Can you find him in time to make your entrance and save the show, or are you both about to be caught up in an actor’s nightmare?
Not all clues are things you can see. Sometimes, you have to listen. Join us as we separate acoustic red herrings from audible clues in this week’s installment of “The Play’s the Thing.”
There’s more than one way to find a missing person, but how would you do it without looking for them? Today’s episode invites you to consider not one but two prompts that could lead to solving the mystery. Consider the details presented in the story so far, and send us your thoughts via PrimeStage.com/contact.
It’s opening night, and a player is missing. Now it’s up to you to follow the clues, find him, and deliver him backstage before his all-important scene.
Written especially for Prime Stage by author, playwright, and screenwriter Lawrence C. Connolly. “The Play’s the Thing” reunites the cast of eccentric characters featured in our previous five-act podcast “A Knavish Piece of Work.”
The world is full of mysteries. Here’s one we can solve together.
You have just presented an explanation as to how Toby Payne fled the locked dressing room, but his whereabouts remain unknown. Fortunately, you have a theory – one that leads you back to the basement and toward a final revelation that none of the New Town players see coming.
Bestselling mystery writer August LaFleur has found missing actor Humphry Jones lying on the floor of the men’s dressing room of the New Town Theatre. But the hot-tempered Toby Payne is still unaccounted for. And even more perplexing is the means by which LaFleur managed to enter the locked space after closing himself in the women’s dressing room two doors away. Now … he is asking you to explain how he did it.
One would think that the best way to solve a locked-door mystery would be to open the room and see what’s inside. But what happens when what’s inside proves even more confounding?
In today’s episode, we discover that the solutions we seek may not be solutions at all, and that our knavish piece of mystery may be more puzzling than even a master sleuth might imagine.
Strange things are afoot at the New Town Theatre! Two actors are missing. Another has run off to hide in a water closet. And the New Town players are struggling to open a locked room that may harbor a terrible secret. But August LaFleur holds back. An expert at devising and solving mysteries, he’s convinced that the real answers may lie deeper within the theatre’s renovated rehearsal space. And so begins an exploration of a haunted brownstone -- a windowless building with few exits … and ample places for mysteries to hide.
Get out your spy glasses and notepads and prepare to take part in a behind-the-scenes adventure that explores the intersection of life and storytelling - an investigation in which you will discover that
mysteries are everywhere. Something strange is afoot at the new town theater. A dressing room is locked. Two actors are missing. And you are there to join the investigation as a cast and crew confront a mystery in which
nothing is as it seems.