Our newest (free!) newsletter is now available, all about writing your own murder mystery.
How do you put together a student-written murder mystery dinner theatre fundraiser (say that three times fast!) without losing your mind?
In This Issue
Write Your Own Murder Mystery!
Introduction
It sounded logical at the time. A student-written murder mystery that your theatre class, or Thespian troupe, or drama club would use as a fundraiser AND why not make it dinner theatre? This newsletter came about when a teacher with this exact scenario came up to me at a conference with a wild-eyed ‘Help!’
The Setting
Environment is everything. An extra-special locale adds to the experience. The audience must feel part of the experience.
The Theme
You have your locale. What is the specific event that takes place there? Why has everyone come to this event?
The Characters
You have your setting. You have your theme. Now you need to flesh out the characters.
The Crime
What is the crime? How is it done? Who did it and why?
The Structure
How do you get from the crime to the reveal of the killer?
The Clues
Every murder mystery needs clues! The best clues are those that implicate more than one character in the beginning, gradually narrowing the suspects to one.
The Logistics
This part of the process might be the hardest of all. Yes, even harder than writing the script in the first place! There are many things to take into consideration aside from the script if your murder mystery dinner theatre fundraiser is going to be a success.
The Performance
This is it! All the planning and all the writing leads up to the actual performance. A couple of things to think about:
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