Television star Ruby Red was found strangled in her beach house. Exactly who killed Ruby Red and why? Was it her jealous sister, or maybe even her money-grubbing ex-husband?
Those were the questions of the night at last Saturday’s Murder Mystery Dinner at Alumni Hall sponsored by the Student Programming Board.
With a relatively large turnout of approximately 75 students the atmosphere at the audience interactive show was bustling. While the students ate finger foods from Side Street Grille, ’70s music played in the background and two very conspicuous male actors went from table to table talking to students and recruiting them to participate in the show.
“A shot in the dark, a scream is heard, a detective arrives, and you are set for a fun evening of excitement, suspense, passion, revenge and a lot of laughs,” said the Facebook event invitation for the event.
One of the actors, dressed in platform shoes, a fake afro, and a shiny silver vest wandered around the room asking in a high pitched voice, to the amusement of students, “Have you seen Mickey?”
Senior Katherine Cleary was timid at first about what to expect.
“I’m a little nervous. I don’t want to be dead and I don’t know if that’s a part of the show,” Cleary said.
Senior Todd Ryder acted as Ruby Red’s ex-husband, Steve Snickers.
“I thought it was definitely unexpected but a lot of fun to be a part of the story. The actors played their parts really well and it looked like they had fun too,” Ryder said.
After listening to several interviews from different murder suspects the audience were given a sheet to fill out and determine who killed Ruby Red, while the “Mission Impossible” theme song played quietly in the background. The two students who came closest to solving the mystery were given T-shirts saying “I survived murder mystery on cue.”
Student Programming Board novelty chair Kathleen Hart came up with the idea to have the Murder Mystery Dinner. She wanted something different which would be fun and interactive. Hart was informed about the Murder On Cue Mystery Company, by assistant director of the Student Center and SPB advisor, Carrie Robbins-O’Connell, who worked with the company before.
One of the actors, David St. John, has been working with the company for about 10 years. Not only do they go to colleges, but they also do corporate shows and fundraisers and they put on about over 30 different shows.
“I thought it was going to be more serious. But, I did like it. It was very entertaining and I like how they used people from the audience to participate in the mystery,” said senior Kim Hines of the 60-minute show.
