Valerie Pollard, co-director, "Murder, Country Style" and  "The Kitchen Witches"

March 5, 2015

Snow, Snow, Snow! While I enjoy a good snow every now and then, it has wreaked havoc the past three weeks with rehearsals and shows for the murder mystery troupe and cast of The Kitchen Witches. Renie Barger and I have teamed up as co-directors of the three Murder Mysteries this season and the next show of the 51st Season — The Kitchen Witches. We have enjoyed the juggling of double rehearsals that are only complicated by Snowmaggedon 2015.

The murder mystery troupe has been in rehearsal since the beginning of January for our third and final show of the season, Murder, Country Style. Our first performance had been set for February 21 at Caldwell County High School. It was cancelled due to snow. It has been rescheduled for April 11— which is tech weekend for The Kitchen Witches and also Spring break for some local schools. Surely, the snow will be gone by then!

Our second murder mystery performance was to have been March 6 as a fundraiser for Relay for Life. Once again, we have lots of snow, and the performance has been cancelled, as well as a scheduled Kitchen Witches rehearsal. I spent my snow bound morning talking with Renie, emailing with the contact for the booking, and texting and emailing the cast of both shows working out the rescheduling details. The murder mystery has been rescheduled for Sunday afternoon and Kitchen Witches will rehearse Saturday afternoon. Whew!  

The rehearsal schedule usually takes time on the director’s part to work out at the beginning due to the cast’s conflicts. The larger the cast, the more the conflicts. However, once the schedule is worked out and shows scheduled, it is mostly smooth sailing.  Not this year! Mother Nature has gifted us this winter with lots of snow—twice in a three week period—causing many more changes. It has been work coordinating schedules.

Renie and I would like to thank the cast of Murder, Country Style—Chuck Wilkins, Audra Hall, Josh Morehead, Kim Yocum, Tony Kitchen, Steve Schwetman, Rachael Jaenichen Chip Bohle and Chris Beal—for their adaptability and willingness to fulfill the commitments of the MHT Murder Mystery Troupe.