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THEATRE PREVIEW:

MURDER MYSTERY DINNER THEATRE

Published in San Diego Union-Tribune September, 1995

You're sitting at a restaurant having dinner, and all of a sudden, the person across the way keels over and dies. People are dropping dead all over the place, and San Diegans are loving it. Murder mystery dinner theaters are killing us county-wide.

Any given weekend, you have four or five opportunities to pursue an evening of annihilation (see sidebar). The competition may be deadly, but it all began with Mystery Cafe, which came to town in 1990. The parent company started in Boston, 1988, and soon began to license rights to its scripts, concept and logo. Seven weeks after she heard that San Diego was "uncharted territory," Julia Holladay became a Mystery Cafe producer, and had her first show up and running at the Imperial House Restaurant, on the west side of Balboa Park. She had no prior theater experience and no contacts in the performing arts.

Now San Diego is Mystery Cafe's most successful city (ahead of Philadelphia, Seattle, Albuquerque and seven others). Last year, Holladay was aptly nominated for the San Diego Business Journal's award for "Women Who Mean Business."

What Holladay brought to the mystery dinner theater concept was a degree in Speech Communication, a stint as a school counselor (Grossmont School District), and several years as Director and Regional VP of the Learning Annex. "One day," says the affable, high-energy 35 year old, "I just decided to put all my skills into practice. I wanted my own business, and I understood marketing and short-term sales. [The Boston headquarters] gave me a recipe. Now they call me for help and advice."

As long as there's a murder, and a meal served by the actors, licensees are free to use Mystery Cafe scripts or develop their own. All but the first of the seven San Diego productions have been home-grown, thanks to Holladay's keen insight in making contacts.

She hooked up with local freelance director Will Roberson, a charismatic force in San Diego theater. Roberson directed and/or co-wrote (with James Pascarella) most, of Mystery Cafe's shows before he died last December of AIDS. It was Holladay who helped Roberson realize his dream, writing and directing a full-scale commercial musical, "Dixie Highway." Holladay produced the nostalgic, rockabilly show last year, investing (and losing) a good deal of her own money.

For the latest production, "Win, Place or Die... My Jockeys are Killing Me" (opening September 9), Pascarella co-authored with long-term Mystery Cafe actor Patricia Harris-Smith. Holladay brought in L.A.-based director Tom McCorry, who staged a hilarious "Noises Off" at North Coast Repertory Theatre two years ago.

Mystery Cafe is moving on, without Will Roberson, but his are hard shoes to fill. "He's impossible to replace," says Holladay. "He was a real serious director, but he didn't take things too seriously. He lightened things up; he was good for me. He gave us enough gifts to keep us going..... Tom (McCorry) is competent, respected, secure. He doesn't care about being compared."

But comparisons are inevitable, not only among directors, but among theaters. There are now four or five mystery dinner theater venues in San Diego, and though no one wanted to go on record with criticisms of the others, the rivalry is evident in comments about "better food," "more music," "more interaction and audience participation," and in the slick subtleties of advertising copy, where Mystery Cafe bills itself as "the original interactive mystery dinner theatre," and Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre claims it's "the MOST original murder mystery dinner theatre."

Greg Coston, creator of Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre/Shoestring Productions, says "Mystery Cafe has set a pretty good pace. It's difficult to keep up. They've made it very competitive, and that's good for the customer."

Actor/writer/director Coston has made a serious study of murder mystery dinner theater. "This is a combination of melodrama, theater in the round, sketch comedy and murder mystery," he explains. "Mystery is only about 100 years old; the first Golden Age was in the late 1800s. Now there seems to be a second Golden Age.

"There are several mystery sub-genres: the Amateur Detective, like Poirot and Sherlock Holmes; the Cozy, Sitting-Room mystery like 'Murder, She Wrote'; the Puzzle, like 'Perry Mason'; the Private Detective, like Sam Spade, 'Magnum P.I.,' 'The Rockford Files'; the Police Procedural, featuring the professional cop, like Columbo; the Romantic Suspense, the origin of mysteries, like the gothic romance which still appears in 'Basic Instinct' or 'Fatal Attraction'; and the Spy Thriller, such as James Bond, 'Get Smart' or 'I Spy.'

The current offerings in San Diego cover the genre gamut. Most run close to capacity on weekends (anywhere from 30-135 seats). What's the draw? Depending on the structure of the event, everyday folks can dress up and become somebody else for an evening, they can take an active rather than a passive role in their entertainment, or, when trying to solve a mystery with their table-mates, they can develop, albeit temporarily, a much sought-after sense of community.

Some people would kill for an exciting evening.

PAT LAUNER is a freelance writer and the theater critic for KPBS-FM.

SIDEBAR: MURDER MYSTERY

"Big Trouble in Little Italy." In New York, c. 1947, a femme fatale hires a detective to find the father of her child. A film noir knockoff, with actors dressed in black and white. Written, produced and directed by L.J. Bowers, aka Lisa DiClemente who, with husband Robert, started Drop Dead Productions last May. At Lake San Marcos Resort, 1121 La Bonita Drive. Indefinite run, but limited schedule due to DiClemente family illness. 8pm Saturday Sept. 2 & 16, 5 pm Sunday Sept. 3, 10, 24. $35 p/p. 738-1086.

"Columbo Without a Clue." Interactive "Clue" game. Lt. Columbo and the audience solve the murder in Mrs. Peacock's dining room. The seventh production of Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre/Shoestring Productions directed by Greg Coston, who co-authored (with Mark Bingham). At the Red Lion Hotel, 7540 Hazard Center Drive, Mission Valley. 8pm Friday and Saturday. Indefinite run. $35 p/p. 277-4800.

"Here Comes the Bride -- There Goes the Neighborhood." Written, produced and directed by Cynthia Thornell-Morgan. After a 2 1/2 year run in L.A., Murder Ink/Poison Pen Productions brings this interactive wedding reception to the Best Western Seven Seas, 411 Hotel Circle South, Mission Valley. Audience members are given pre-assigned roles and secrets to share. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $45 p/p including champagne, dinner & dancing. 457-5208.

"Call of Castillo." A Mystery Spy Game designed and run by Scott Castillo, Jr., gaming maven and creator of the San Diego Gaming Convention, who stages imaginative interactive events, elaborately planned, but not scripted. Heavily improvisational; somebody will die -- hopefully not you. Come in costume, to Mr. R's Smoke Pit BBQ, 3809 Plaza Drive. Ste. 115 Oceanside. 7 p.m. Sunday October 15 only. $24.95 p/p. 631-2954.

"Who Killed Kate?" A Victorian drama (c. 1895) masking as a champagne art reception, with the audience following the action/intrigue up and down the three-story building. Paintings, script, direction and art gallery by Hyacinth Baron, co-owner (with husband/producer Ed) of the Drawing Room Downtown Art Gallery, 828 G Street. Opening Sept. 8; 8:28 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Indefinite run. $25. Special performance with erotic art exhibit, 7 pm Saturday, September 9, at the exotic dance club Nightlife in North Park. Reservations required. 231-0635.

"Win, Place Or Die!... My Jockeys are Killing Me!" Written by James Pascarella & Patricia Harris-Smith. Mystery Cafe's seventh production. Directed by L.A.-based Tom McCorry. A post-WW II era mystery comedy (c. 1946), set in the Thoroughbred Club of Upson Downs in Hollywood Park. At the Imperial House Restaurant, 505 Kalmia Street. Wear a hat to the premiere tomorrow; it's opening day at the races! 8 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Indefinite run. $35-39. 544-1600.