Photo courtesy Lagniappe ProductionsWild West performers settle in Grapevine
In Chris Whatley's Grapevine, there is trouble brewing in the vineyard and Jacques Bordeaux, a would-be wine maker, mysteriously dies twice a week.
Investigating murders is a messy business, but Whatley's Keller-based company — Lagniappe Productions — has been making it fun and funny for more than a year now at the Texas Star Dinner Theater on Main Street Grapevine.
The Lone Star Murder Mysteries, "where historical meets hysterical," were launched in 2003 in the Fort Worth Stockyards. By 2004, the players were asked to move their performances to the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center. And in April 2011, Whatley and his wife, Phyllis Addison, opened their theater at the corner of Main and Dallas streets in a building previously used as a hair salon. The location was perfect.
"It's hard to beat Main Street Grapevine," Addison said. "The biggest draw for us was the historic district, but it was also the opportunity to offer our production our way. This theater has been our pride and joy."
