The Souris Valley Theatre swapped scripts for suspects this weekend, as its Gravestone Wild West Murder Mystery fundraiser challenged audiences to catch a killer — and raised money for the local stage.
Allison Holzer, president of the theatre, said the idea came from the murder mystery games often hosted at home, but they turned it into a play.
“Our actors put together several different kinds of scenes, and the audience needs to guess who they think the murderer is,” said Holzer. “Eventually, someone is murdered out of the group.”
Adding to the suspense, even the actors didn’t know who the murderer was.
“We keep it a secret from all of the actors, because throughout the play, we find out that they all have motive to kill the victim,” Holzer explained.
At the end of the show, audience members submitted their guesses before the final outcome was revealed. Holzer said the idea was inspired by a conference she attended several years ago.
Because the event was based on a board game, no formal scripts were provided — just talking points.
“So the actors had to come up with all of their scripts basically,” said Holzer. “It’s improv, and it’s pretty cool what they come up with. Even the night of the performances, there’s lines that come out that we haven’t heard before, because it’s all improv.”
The show starred Sherry Haberstock, Kyle Whitehead, Bethany Dittman, James Dobos, Adrienne DeCheif, Laura O’Hanlon, Patrick Dupuis and Crystal Ross.
“Dustin Hall stepped in as our undertaker and he got a lot of laughs,” Holzer said.
Dave Elliot and Paul Carroll ran the sound for the performances.
Holzer noted that Crystal Ross and Adrienne DeCheif were the newcomers this year, stepping in to replace two people who couldn’t return.
Rehearsals began on March 10. After offering just a one-night performance last year, the theatre expanded to a Friday and Saturday night show this time around.
“We’ve tried to tie the theme of the murder mystery into the mainstage shows that we’re doing down in the theatre,” Holzer said.
Both nights were well attended.
“We sold 90 tickets Friday, and 99 on Saturday night. Capacity was supposed to be 96, so we had a few seats left over on Friday night, but we were oversold on Saturday night,” said Holzer.
Holzer said community interest was strong right up to showtime, with people inquiring at the last minute about tickets.
Funds raised from the performances will go toward yearly expenses for the theatre. They are also looking to hire an assistant stage manager and purchase new light fixtures.
“We’re always doing upgrades. We have received grants, but all of our lights are almost to the point of being obsolete. So our light fixtures, our stage lighting — bulbs you can’t get anymore,” Holzer said. “Once the bulbs die, we’re going to have to replace them with LED lights.”
They are also looking into accommodations for their actors, which they provide each summer, including mobile homes and a couple of fifth wheels.
“One of the fifth wheels is on its last leg, so we’d like to put up some sort of cabin that we could have down there for our actors and extend the number of people we could have staying down there,” Holzer said.
She added that it was a great experience working with the Days Inn.
“They always work well with us and let us get in there and do rehearsals and our decoration.”
Theatre manager Shirley Hildebrand also stepped up to help, organizing tickets and preparing decorations for the two shows.
Thanks to the popularity of the murder mystery with both the audience and the performers, Holzer said it’s likely to continue in the future.
The theatre is planning to announce its upcoming mainstage productions later this week.