Play intertwines comedy, mystery

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 16, 2000

TARPON SPRINGS -- The Avenue Players Theatre is scheduled to present a staged reading of The Man Who Came to Murder, a new comedy/mystery play by Lee Sheldon, a television writer and producer who moved to the area last year.

The reading will be 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Tarpon Springs Cultural Center, 101 S Pinellas Ave. Admission is free.

Sheldon's work is a two-act, one-set play set in Hollywood in 1984. As the title suggests, the new play contains more than a passing reference to the 1939 play, The Man Who Came to Dinner, by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

This time, the man in the wheelchair is an irascible actor known for portraying a British detective who is convalescing after breaking both legs on a movie set. When workers digging a swimming pool in his back yard uncover a 1950 Plymouth with a body inside, he plunges into the mystery and is soon on the trail of a killer with a talent for disguise, no qualms about killing and a 30-year-old secret that stretches from Hollywood to Korea.

Sheldon's writing credits range from Charlie's Angels to Star Trek: The Next Generation to the daytime soap opera Edge of Night, where he was head writer. He currently writes and designs computer games and multiplayer games on the Internet.

American Legion post gives scholarship, awards

TARPON SPRINGS -- American Legion Post 46 recently presented Brent Boostrom of Tarpon Springs High School with a $1,000 scholarship to St. Petersburg Junior College.

The post also presented certificates, badges or pins to George Paladis and Malinda Weed of Tarpon Springs High School; Vincent Ingargiola and Thi Minh Nguyen of Tarpon Springs Middle School; James Carceddia and Kim Herndon of Palm Harbor Middle School; Demetri Mott and Brittany Lopez of Tarpon Springs Elementary School; Andrew Jacke and Harley Ellington of Tarpon Springs Elementary Fundamental School; Daniel Izquierdo and Brittany Perez of Sunset Hills Elementary School; and Elizabeth Hutchens and John Staffiera of Cypress Woods Elementary School.

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