Serving suspense over dinner

Online Poster

By Kate Gleason

The atmosphere of the Illini Union Board’s Fall Murder Mystery Dinner Theater play is unlike any other.

For-unlike most plays-the audience members themselves are encouraged to participate in the fun of the play, Final Cut.

Alison Benefico, a senior in LAS, and Anna Dombrowski, a sophomore in LAS, are the co-directors of the show, which was performed Thursday evening in the Illini Union Ballroom, and will also be performed Saturday night.

Benefico said audience members are encouraged to “play along” with the actors.

Name tags are distributed at the beginning of the show to promote conversation among cast members and audience members, and, upon entering the ballroom, audience members are given an opportunity to play a small roles in the play that night.

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Courtney Milligan, a senior in LAS, said the “interactive theater” aspect of the show is the reason she and her friends attended Thursday night.

“It’s just a good, fun time,” she said. “You get to talk to the characters during the show and dinner and ask questions to try to find out who the killer is.”

Milligan and friends Jenn Pampenella, a senior in communication, and Mary Robinson, a senior in LAS, have been attending the fall show for the past three years.

“We randomly came the first year because we figured it would be like the movie Clue,” Milligan said. “But we liked it so much it’s now our tradition.”

Pampenella agreed.

“It’s something different to do on campus,” she said.

The play centers around a fund-raiser for a Hollywood director’s newest movie, The Planet From Outer Space.

The director, Edward Von Krappenhausen, organizes the event to increase publicity for it and as a chance for the cast and crew of his film to meet one another.

However, it is not long before tempers rise and personality conflicts escalate.

The play has the classic “Whodunit?” murder mystery theme, but is a very original piece.

Joe Vivoli, a freshman in LAS, plays Von Krappenhausen.

He said his character insults a lot of people throughout the play and is generally an unlikable character.

Vivoli said he enjoyed working on the show because he enjoys the flexibility allowed with this kind of acting. Even though the show has a general storyline, actors are encouraged to “improv” and come up with words of their own.

“I don’t like memorizing lines,” Vivoli said. “I like to take liberties with my character’s lines.”

Benefico said she and Dombrowski encouraged cast members to use their imaginations and create their characters.

Vivoli said that by creating his own lines, he was able to actually create his character’s personality, as opposed to just reading lines from a script.

Dombrowski said that there are no more tickets available for Saturday’s show, but there will be another murder mystery next semester, and that audition and ticket information will be announced at the beginning of the spring semester.