Owsley County's Tri-County Mystery Meets Named KTA Runner-Up; Members Honored

Tri-County Mystery Meets was named "Runner-Up Community Theatre for the Most Human" at the 2025 Kentucky Theatre Association Community Theatre Competition held at the University of Kentucky, and several troupe members received individual statewide recognition. The competition honored Josh Collins, Lisa Honeycutt and Ellie Doolin among the state's top-10 actors, and the Top Music Award went to Reed Elliotte.

The awards bring a statewide spotlight to the Barbourville-based mobile company led by owner Cat Rhoden Goguen. Goguen's biography lists her as a retired high school theatre NBCT teacher with three published plays; her play "May I Have Your Attention Please?" "Won the acclaimed Critics Choice Award." She serves on the boards of the Kentucky Theatre Association and Kentucky Playwrights Workshop and coordinates the state playwriting contest Roots of the Bluegrass.

Tri-County Mystery Meets operates a dinner-theatre format that emphasizes audience participation. The troupe's website describes performances in which audience members "may be given a nametag with a character name or given an object that’s a plot clue" and promotes the company as "Serving Up the BEST in Dinner Theatre." The site names Chris Campbell as one of the actors and notes past productions including Murder on the Mountain, Cupid 2.0, Christmas Rehab, Game of Homes and The Reveal. Upcoming listings on the troupe site include Resilience (Feb. 1) and The Sweet Life (March).

The roster of names associated with the awards includes "Ellie and Rebecca Doolin" at the top of the troupe list; published honors specifically identify Ellie Doolin among the top-10 actors while Rebecca Doolin's role was not specified in the awards text. The statewide Top Music Award credited to Reed Elliotte highlights the troupe's strength in musical work, though the award text does not specify whether it recognized composition, direction or performance.

Tri-County Mystery Meets lists local contact details for people interested in shows or bookings: phone 606-344-0491 and email iwriteplays@outlook.com. The troupe describes itself as a Barbourville, KY based mobile business operating in the tri-counties and available for locations nationwide, providing a direct path for local organizations and businesses to book dinner-theatre events.

The honors at the University of Kentucky competition add to a pattern of TCMM activity under Goguen's leadership and create an opportunity for audiences in Owsley County and nearby communities to see award-recognized performers in upcoming productions such as The Sweet Life, for which Goguen is credited as the winning playwright to write The Sweet Life: Story of Ruth Hunt Candy.