Murder, mystery, and strawberry crepes: What to expect at dinner theater

Audience members attending the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater, will find themselves amidst a séance, complete with disembodied voices, ghosts and a fortune teller to stir the pot.

Frontier Community Services and the Kenai Senior Connection Inc. are hosting the play titled “Murder by Magic,” for their annual fundraiser. The audience-participation Murder Mystery by Eileen Moushey, will not only require onlookers to assist the character of Simone The Psychic contact the dead, but it will be up to them to find out who murdered one of those very spirits.

Audience participation will be heavily emphasized, said director and hostess of “Murder by Magic,” Ann Shirnberg. After some thought, she said the performance will resemble a giant, real life version of the Clue board game.

Between meals, the audience will be fact-finding, and whoever guesses the murderer first will receive prizes, Shirnberg said. The answer will be revealed in the final act after dessert, she said.

“It is a lot of fun,” Shirnberg said. “The play is comedic, and actors have a great time with it.”

It is a tradition for the Senior Center to host the dinner theater, Shirnberg said. Frontier became involved five years ago, and it has been just as successful ever since, she said.

Due to the content, the play is intended for adults and not suited for young audiences, Shirnberg said. Sometimes parents will bring their older teenagers. Regardless, Shirnberg said, “the play usually sells out.”

Each ticket is $40, Shirnberg expects more than 100 people will make it through the doors of the senior center to take part in the interactive performance. The local actors and actresses in this year’s play have been preparing since Sept. 2, Shirnberg said. The cast includes Terri Zopf-Schoessler, Yvette Tappana, Tim Tucker, Natalie Tucker, Ian McEwen and Donna Shirnberg who will play the siblings, daughter, lovers and friends who make up the rest of the characters involved in the mysterious séance, she said.

Many of the actors are well known in the community, have acted in previous dinner plays, and some have backgrounds with the Kenai Performers and Triumvirate Theatre, Shirberg said.

It is a quick turnaround, Shirberg said. Actors are given the script at the beginning of the month and rehearse three times a week until public performances begin.

On the dinner menu is a fruit, cheese and cracker platter appetizer, the entree is chicken Wellington, a zucchini, red pepper and mushroom medley, rosemary baby potatoes, dinner roll and for dessert is strawberry crepes.

Doors at the Kenai Senior Center will open at 6 p.m., dinner will be at 7 p.m. and the show will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at Charlotte’s Restaurant in Kenai and River City Books in Soldotna.

Kelly Sullivan can be reached at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com

More in Life

Photo provided by Shana Loshbaugh
Dena’ina writer, translator and ethnographer Peter Kalifornsky speaks at the first Kenai Peninsula history conference held at Kenai Central High School on Nov. 7-8, 1974.
Remembering the Kenai Peninsula’s 1st history conference — Part 1

Kenai Peninsula history gathering 50 years ago remains relevant and rousing

File
Minister’s Message: My upstairs or your upstairs?

The question challenges us to consider our own eternal destination and relationship with Jesus

tease
Off the shelf: Memoir ponders life’s un-expectations

‘The Crane Wife’ is part of the Homer Public Library’s 2024 Lit Lineup

tease
Anticipating candy-coated revelry

These popcorn balls, done three ways, are a classic Halloween treat

This photograph shows hunter/trapper Warren Melville Nutter near the lake at the foot of what was almost certainly Skilak Glacier, circa late 1930s. (Photo courtesy of the Nutter Family Collection)
Finding Mister Nutter — Part 5

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Warren Melville Nutter spent the final 32 years of his… Continue reading

These lean turkey burgers are juicy and flavorful and go great with salad and soda. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
Twin dinner turkey burgers serve up birthday nostalgia

These lean burgers are juicy and flavorful and go great with salad and soda.

File
Minister’s Message: Being able to hear God

We need to open our eyes, and listen deeply to how God is speaking to us

The cast of Intuition Salon’s shadow cast of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” rehearse in Kenai on Monday.
‘Rocky Horror’ returns

Local actors to perform live during late-night screenings of classic film

This photo of Warren Melville Nutter, holding a dead juvenile bald eagle that he shot for the bounty, appeared in the May 1938 edition of The Alaska Sportsman Magazine. The photo was probably taken near the mouth of Hidden Creek on Skilak Lake.
Finding Mister Nutter — Part 4

Nutter had two trap-line cabins

Most Read