Deadbeat: Or How a Group of Speed City Sisters in Crime Wrote a Play (Part 1)

DEADBEAT: An Adventure in Play Writing

By Crystal V. Rhodes 

It’s almost here!  

After nearly a year of preparation, the Speed City Chapter of the Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers will be participating in its first Indy Fringe Play Festival, which runs from August 16th through August 27, 2018.  It has been a long haul, one that began in May 2017 when the Speed City Chapter made the decision to write a play and enter it in the Indy Fringe Live Theatre Festival as a fundraising event.  

This was a historic decision!  Out of the 40 plus chapters of Sisters in Crime, throughout the United States, the Indiana chapter is the first to try such an endeavor and our daring members delved into this endeavor with creative fervor.

The Sisters in Crime Playwright Workshop created and those involved crafted a One Act play that it named Deadbeat, a comical “who done it” with a twist.  It took more than eight drafts, two readings and close to a year for the play to be completed but it did happen, and finally the day the membership had been waiting for arrived.  On May 28th, Memorial Day, the six dates on which Deadbeat would be presented at the 2018 Indy Fringe Festival were revealed to our Chapter President in an email:

DEADBEAT will be presented at the IndyFringe Basile Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair St., Indianapolis IN

THURSDAY            AUGUST 16 9:00 P.M.
SATURDAY            AUGUST 18      9:00 P.M.
MONDAY               AUGUST 20      9:00 P.M.
THURSDAY            AUGUST 23      7:30 P.M.
FRIDAY                  AUGUST 24      6:00 P.M.
SUNDAY                 AUGUST 26     7:30 P.M.

The fact that we finally received these all-important dates is terrific, but can you believe that we will be presenting a theatrical production on a Monday night?  At 9:00?   Yes, folks, somebody at the Fringe office put on a blindfold and threw darts at a board and the Speed City Chapter of Sisters in Crime was presented with some very challenging dates and times for Deadbeat.  Despite this, the Speed City Chapter is composed of a group of resilient trailblazers who dare to think outside the box!  We mean to make this production of Deadbeat a success.  So, over the next few weeks I will be sharing the Speed City Chapter of Sisters in Crime’s daring foray into the exciting World of the Indy Fringe Festival—the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and let’s hope there won’t be any of the latter). 

Stay Tuned.  It might turn out to be a bumpy ride!  
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C.V. Rhodes is co-author of the Grandmothers, Incorporated cozy mystery series with fellow author, L. Barnett Evans.  Visit their website at www.grandmothersinc.com.  Rhodes is also the author of the romantic suspense Sin Series and the Stillwaters Series. Visit her website at www.crystalrhodes.com.