Pageant News Bureau - Hilary Kennedy

At the very moment you're reading this, people around the world are enjoying murder.

We can visualize some of those people A woman on vacation reading a mystery novel. A couple sitting in a darkened movie theater, waiting for the next scary surprise on the big screen. A sleepy-eyed TV viewer staying up past bedtime because he just has to see the police catch the bad guy. "You have the right to remain silent . . ." zzzzzzzz

Crime fiction is fun, and one of its most delicious forms is the mystery play. A baffling murder with a troupe of intriguing suspects is solved live and onstage. Members of the audience can simply sit back and be entertained -- or they can test their own crime-solving talents.

Hilary Kennedy, Miss Gulf Coast United States, is an actress who's making a killing in this kind of production. As a member of the Actors' Company, she averages two performances a week in Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. "Sometimes I get to be the killer, sometimes I get to be killed, sometimes I'm just a suspect."

Mystery plays don't take themselves too seriously, and Ms. Kennedy has played such campy-sounding roles as Dr. Emily Eyeque, Lola Getts Man and (our favorite) Lacey Undees. The elegant beauty that brought her success in pageants, including the title of Miss El Paso 2001 in the Miss America system, has proved very useful.

But if you're thinking she just stands there and looks good, you don't have a clue. She's a serious actress, with a degree in television, radio and film from Texas Christian University. She's not afraid of "Virginia Woolf," professionally speaking.

Her goal is to land a recurring role on a major soap opera, like former Actors' Company member Hunter Tylo. "Melodrama is fun," she says.

Someday soon, Ms. Kennedy may be on network television, or on Broadway, or on the big screen in a darkened movie theater.

But for now, if you're in Texas, you have a chance to see her playing a mystery woman. We recommend it. Catch her before she's a star. Catch her before she kills again.

Photos courtesy of Hilary Kennedy

A guilty pleasure