Perry Players Theatre presents second version of murder mystery dinner

The murder mystery dinner and theatre that was such a big hit earlier this year at the Museum of Aviation will be making a move to the Perry Player’s Community Theatre. Kicking off this Friday, the dates for the show will be November 2, 3, 9, and 10 at 6:30 p.m. and November 4 and 11, starting at 1 p.m., at the Perry Player’s Community Theatre on Main Street in Perry. The show is directed, produced, and written by Tyler Bryant and Nicole Bissette.

“It’s a completely new murder mystery,” says Bryant. “You could call it a sequel to ‘Murder at the Deadwood Saloon,’ which was our very first murder mystery we did back in 2014, but it takes place at the Deadwood Saloon in the 1800s, so it’s an old Western.”

“Murder at the Deadwood Saloon… Again?” is an Old West-type of play and features an ensemble cast of local actors from Perry, Macon, and Warner Robins.

“People have always said the first murder mystery was their favorite,” said Bryant. “We’ve always done every show thoroughly before, but they’ve always said, ‘I just wish ya’ll would do Deadwood again.’ We decided also to include people who have never been in the play before and ask for the ones that were in the first show to return. It’s a completely different plot from the first show, but it’s the same setting and same set of characters.”

This will be the eighth murder mystery dinner theatre that will be held by Murder with Friends, a murder mystery entertainment group.

Bryant says that the unique aspect that separates this murder mystery dinner theatre from others is that the show was not just written by him, but the actors participating in the show contributed as well. “It’s complete improv and it will be a different show, night to night.”

The admission price is $40 and tickets must be purchased in advance. Ticket prices include a full dinner, entertainment, and an unlimited open bar catered by Bodega Brew.

“What’s fun is our rehearsals are very limited. We only have eight or nine rehearsals. We always bounce ideas off each other and it’s always unique to see how one sees their character versus how you see your character,” said Bryant. “We have completely different ideas sometimes and it’s a team-building event for us just putting on the show because we have to work together to figure out how it makes sense for the audience. There is no traditional script. It doesn’t say, Character A says this or Character B says that. It’s complete control and utter chaos. We really have a lot of fun with it and we’re only able to do that by having an open dialogue at each rehearsal.”