Murder Mystery Company puts students’ detective skills to test

Dylan McCall, Assistant Entertainment Editor

Who killed the Great Scott Doowie?

 

To find out, actors gave one person from each table a suspect character to play and given a name tag, clothing item, a binder with instructions, biographies and clues.

 

On Oct. 19, Tukwut Life and Student Life and Leadership hosted a magic show murder mystery orchestrated by the Murder Mystery Company in the USU Ballroom.

 

The Murder Mystery Company is a nation-wide theatrical company that performs private murder mystery dinners, parties and public dinner shows.

 

After signing in, attendees could grab a pasta dinner and interact with the three actors.

 

Scarlet LaRue, played by Rachel Landis, the Great Scott Doowie, played by Edward Maldonado, and Mabel Velcro-Doowie, played by Kimberly Hobscheid, visited every table before the event to explain the rules and assign suspects.

 

The rules were to solve who murdered the Great Scott, how they killed him and their motive by interacting with other groups and name-tagged suspects.

 

Fake money was supplied to act as bribes for information, every bribe had to be accepted and the information given in return had to be true.

 

The suspects and groups could introduce themselves to others until LaRue started the magic show.

 

The Great Scott performed a few magic tricks until his death minutes later, while trying to swallow his cane with a rag in his mouth. It was later discovered that the Great Scott was chloroformed with the rag and proceeded to choke to death on it.

 

LaRue called the suspects to the front after reading the Great Scott’s will and asked for their name and something related to their biography.

 

Groups were allowed to walk around the room and ask other groups and actors any questions for 10 minutes.

 

The detective, also played by Maldonado, arrived to take over the case.

 

Throughout the night, clues were gathered by the detective and suspects, each with information about affairs, blackmail, sabotage and so on.

 

Groups could question and bribe during the two other 10 minute breaks and see the gathered evidence on a table up front.

 

After the final break, every group was given a paper to write their team name, who they thought the killer was and how and why they did it.

 

The actors awarded suspects and groups gag awards for best actress and actor and going with the flow.

 

They also awarded a group who accused an eight-year-old suspect of committing the crime, the dead last award, awarded to the team who gave the worst answer.

 

The killer was correctly identified by eight groups, but the team blondes in front won for giving the best detailed answer.

 

The Great Scott was murdered by his former assistant, Poly Ester. She committed this crime of passion for Lancaster Doowie, the Great Scott’s son, attempting to gain his love and attention.

 

For more information about the Murder Mystery Company or to book an event visit https://www.grimprov.com