Take a look behind the curtain of Tri-Cities newest mystery theater arts venue
There’s magic happening in a corner of the expansive home of Bella’s Office Solutions, which has anchored West Clearwater Avenue for two decades.
The office furniture business and the seven food trucks stationed in its parking lot are not going anywhere, but a new theater and event venue opened inside in January.
Dwight Montgomery, who owns Bella’s, along with his daughter, Izzy, spent months converting 3,000 square feet in the Bella’s building into The Mystery Theatre.
The Tri-Cities’ newest arts-oriented venue reflects Izzy Montgomery’s passion for the performing arts, developed when she was a student at Hanford High School, at Columbia Basin College and involved with now-closed Los Angeles Second City.
The Mystery Theatre is a work in progress with more features to come, but it opened with a stage, a proper green room, table seating, arcade games and a high-tech self-service beverage system for guests who want beer, wine or cider when they attend events.
Isabella “Izzy” Montgomery, 21, is the driving force behind the creative reuse of the Bella’s building, which her family has owed for years.
Haven for bluebirds
She developed a passion for drama and the arts as a student.
The Mystery Theatre, she said, is intended to be a haven for those like her who feel like “bluebirds surrounded by blackbirds.”
The community, she said, needs more creative spaces.
The new venue gives Kennewick the kind of creative space that’s available in Richland, which has a lively community theater scene, she said.
By day, Mystery Theatre provides indoor seating for food truck customers. At others, it hosts events, live music, arcade games, dramatic performances and themed parties. It is forming an adult improvisational group modeled on “Whose Line is it Anyway?”
Its first live concert was on March 16 and is in rehearsals for its first dramatic production, Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” Performances are set for April 5, 6, 12 and 13.
“The cast includes local professionals and is meant to signal the theater’s commitment to providing a creative outlet for Tri-Citians and its willingness to take on dark material.
“I’m not afraid of a challenge,” Montgomery said.
Food truck co-stars
The food trucks play a pivotal role in the Mystery Theatre business: Food service.
Attendees who want to eat can pick up food from the trucks and eat an the trucks serve the theater’s patrons and guests.
For “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” doors open at 6:45 p.m. and the show begins at 7:30 p.m., providing ample time to eat before curtain time. The space will be set up with 20 tables for four.
Dwight Montgomery said his daughter inherited her artistic bent from her mother. But he’s contributing the business background to the venture.
With The Mystery Theater, she is gaining experience creating and running a business and the decision making that entails.
Bella’s not closing
Dwight Montgomery confirmed Bella’s remains a solid business, but does not need the building’s 30,000 square feet as its business shifts to online demand and by-appointment sales.
He said the building has been a solid investment for the family. It took an unexpected turn in the pandemic, when the owner of a Thai food truck asked about using the parking lot as a base.
The food was excellent and the truck moved in, later to be joined by six others. Future plans include constructing a commissary kitchen to provide a home base to the mobile tenants.
Additional space has been turned over to a Halloween-oriented venue, “Frightmare..”
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This story was originally published March 27, 2024 at 12:00 AM.