ESTEVAN - The Souris Valley Theatre is grateful for the support shown for its second annual murder mystery dinner theatre.
Performances of Gravestone Wild West happened April 25 and 26 at the Days Inn's Taylorton Room, with a near-capacity crowd of 90 people attending the first night and 99 present the second. They dined on a roast beef supper and laughed during a show that offered plenty of improv.
"That's the fun of the whole thing," said SV Theatre board president Allison Holzer. "We started rehearsals … on March 10, so we did roughly eight rehearsals, but every rehearsal, the lines would be a little different because they were improvising. So even at performances, our different lines would come out, because there was no actual script."
The actors had their talking points for the show, Holzer said, and every character had a motive for wanting to kill the victim.
"Then the audience has to guess who the murderer was, and then in the final big reveal, the actors come out and they read a piece of paper that comes out of an envelope because they didn't even know who the murderer is," said Holzer. "They read from the envelopes, and then we find out who the actual murderer was."
The murderer was the same each night.
The audience had a lot of fun, Holzer said, because they didn't know what was coming next.
Since the theatre is going to have a couple of western productions this year, Gravestone Wild West was selected for the fundraiser, and spectators were encouraged to dress accordingly.
Cast members were Cheri Haberstock, Kyle Whitehead, Bethany Dittman, Adrienne Dechief, James Dobos, Laura O'Hanlon, Patrick Dupuis and Crystal Ross. Ross and Dechief were the only newcomers for this year.
Dustin Hall had a cameo role as the undertaker. He entered the room after the victim was murdered.
Also, Dave Elliott, who is on the theatre's board through his work as a member of Estevan city council, volunteered for sound on the first night, and Paul Carroll from Bienfait had similar duties for the second.
When the theatre held the murder mystery night last year, it was for just one night, and it sold out quickly. A lot more people wanted to attend, so a second performance was added for this year.
The amount of money raised wasn't immediately available, but Holzer said it's worthwhile hosting the night and building anticipation for the upcoming season.
The theatre has finalized its productions for this year and plans to reveal the two main-stage shows and the concerts in early May.
