The Actor’s Charitable Theatre will host a mystery dinner tonight titled “Still in the ACT, Another Broadway Who Dunnit.”
The dinner will take place at Forest Lake Methodist Church on 4th Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa Thursday and Friday at 6:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $15 per person or $100 per table, with a maximum of eight seats.
There are a limited number of tickets available, and they can be purchased by calling 345-9574. The catered barbecue dinner will last about two hours.
The audience will have the opportunity to interact with the characters in the show to help solve the mystery, said Joey Lay, writer and director of the event.
The wait staff will be the characters themed with each table such as Aladdin, Ariel, Peter Pan and many other Disney and Broadway characters.
“It’s an extremely family-friendly show,” Lay said. “All the kids will love the characters.”
The first event similar to this one by the ACT, “Caught in the ACT, a Broadway Who Dunnit,” was April 1, 2009.
“It’s one of my favorite events we do,” he said. “It’s a lot of impromptu too. If an audience member says something, we’re not going to ignore it. We’ll address what they say and make it part of the story.”
The show starts off with Snoopy telling the audience to call his cousin Scooby Doo, and they hire the Mystery Machine gang to solve the crime, Lay said. The audience will be constantly interacting with the characters, and though they aren’t asked to solve the crime, they are important to the story.
Andrew Thompson, who plays Scooby Doo, said his role has been very interesting because he has never considered playing the character. He had to go home and watch the cartoon to help with his role.
“I think it’s unique from any other dinner theatre I’ve ever seen because most of the time you just eat your meal then you have your show and you go home, but everything is incorporated into this show, even dinner,” Thompson said.
Miller Coop, a sophomore majoring in telecommunications and film, plays Shaggy at the mystery dinner.
He said the dinner is amazing, and this is his first show with the ACT.
“It has been a pleasure working with everybody,” Coop said. “[Shaggy] is a lot like me.”
“It’s a very unique experience you don’t want to miss,” said Alisha Lay, who plays Velma and choreographed the show. “Date night on a whole new level.”
