I don't really have the technical knowledge to advise further. My usual standby is to simply delete the preference file. It's possible (? probable) that your project is corrupted, particularly given the nature of your Mac unexpectedly quitting. My understanding is that it wasn't just iMovie that quit, but the whole system crashed.
It may be best if you cut your losses and start your project from scratch, as there is no guarantee that an immediate solution will be recommended here - sorry! You mentioned that your Events are intact, so that is a relief. Also, hopefully you can still meet your Wednesday deadline!
One tip: As you are not running a backup, it will be a sensible idea to create a duplicate project from time to time if the full edit is going to be spread over several days (or even hours). All duplicate projects can be deleted once the edit is complete. To duplicate a project, while in Project Library view, click on your project then select File>Duplicate Project from iMovie's menu. A copy will be created and placed in the Project Library - this will have the same name as the original, but with a number appended (rename as desired).
Hopefully someone here will come up with a solution for you, but in the meantime I would get cracking on starting over.
John