Are you planning to attend a murder mystery dinner theater? If so, I am so excited for you! There is much fun in store!

Over the last 10 years, my husband and I hosted and/or participated in 12 murder mystery parties at home. However, we recently attended our very first murder mystery dinner theater. I was beyond excited to attend a new-to-me format for murder mystery! Today, I’m going to share our experience at the murder mystery dinner theater and some tips. Granted, not all murder mystery dinner theater formats may follow the exact same style as ours.

What is a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater?

As you may have guessed, a murder mystery dinner theater is an interactive show and dinner, all in one. Many dinner theater shows involve real actors that work for a murder mystery company. In our case, the company in charge of our show was  Murder Mystery Co. out of Dallas. There were several actors from Dallas. They travel the country and put on shows at various event centers. The event centers hire the company to come and put on a show at their venues.

In other cases, there are actual dinner theater event venues in certain cities. You can book tickets to the shows year-round at these standard locations.

For our murder mystery dinner theater in Arkansas, the venue was held at Bo Brook Farms, a local winery and farm. The indoor, heated venue has a large barn which is used for weddings and large parties, etc. Our murder mystery dinner theater took place on Valentine’s weekend so the Hubs and I and some friends planned to go as a double-date for Valentine’s Day. We are romantic like that!

Seating Arrangements at a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater

Some venues may have theater style seating and others may have restaurant-style seating. Also, some events are held in meeting rooms at large hotels.

In our situation, the event center had large wooden tables which could seat eight people. Venue officials told us to arrive early if we wished to sit with our friends (since we had paid for our tickets separately). Once seated, we became teammates with everyone else at our table. The actors instructed us to work as a team and treat all people at other tables as the enemy. At our table were several documents and a binder of information which contained clues that only we were supposed to know. I will not post close-up photos of those documents as I do not not want to spoil any of the information from our particular game.

As for the game “suspects,” they were easily identifiable by their name tags. The actors told us there were no mystery suspects – all suspects were adorned with a name tag. (I have read that some mystery theater companies do this differently by placing unidentified actors around the room.)

Also, some tables had a suspect seated there among the attendees. Our table did not have a suspect, but several suspects approached our table to talk with us.

Participation at a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater

During the initial promotion, our venue provided information depicting the theme of the event. We were told we would be attending an 80s “rock concert.” Unlike with murder mystery parties hosted at home, we were not provided specific character information. As it was explained, we all were rock concert attendees attending a rock concert. Here is a rough time line of our dinner theater:

First, we arrived at 6 p.m.

The show (act one) started at 6:30 p.m.

Dinner and independent investigations (clue-digging) began at 7 p.m.

Then, the second act began around 8 p.m.

Next, the solution round occurred around 8:30 p.m. (Each team discussed and turned in a sheet revealing its prime suspect and motive.)

The murderer was revealed by 8:40 p.m.

Finally, prizes and recognition were awarded to the winning team and to the  “best dressed” participants at the end.

Basically, during the first act of the show, we all were primarily observers – watching the first act of the show unfold. There was a bit of humorous interaction between the characters and some attendees. I found the actors to be quite good at improv. In fact, some of the attendees were pretty good at it, too. However, I believe a few of the characters were actually attendees who were asked to play the minor characters.

What to Wear to a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater?

The main advice I will give on what to wear to a murder mystery dinner theater is this: do it up!

Go. All. Out.

I go by this rule of thumb for most things in life – if you are going to do something, do it right!

No doubt, a murder mystery party is what you make of it. The more engaged the attendees, the more fun it is for everyone. Imagine how disappointed the event planners must be when they organize a theme party and few people actually dress up. Have fun with it! Go as silly or over-the-top as you can!

If you think your costume is too much, it is probably just right.

 

From the initial information on the Facebook event page, we were clued in on what to wear for the mystery dinner theater. Clearly, for the 80s theme party, we needed to be decked out in 80s costumes. The Hubs and I and our friends all went the 80s rocker route. In fact, the Hubs ordered my costume for me from Amazon Prime. Do you know there was a matching male version of my costume, and he failed to purchase it? Hmmmph! No doubt, we would have been totally tubular in matching costumes!

At the end of the night, I was given the award for “Best Dressed Female!”

I am posting my picture here with “Roger,” the best dressed male. I blurred his face to protect his privacy.

Look on Google for inspiration, visit your local thrift stores, maybe (maybe?) dig in your own closet. I know not all of you have gone the way of Marie Kondo!

What Kind of Food is Served at a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater?

Just as I mentioned above, different venues will offer different methods and versions of everything. Some venues may serve a buffet style dinner. However, others may serve a menu-style or order ahead dinner.

Our venue served a buffet style menu of chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and salad. There were also cheesecake bites for dessert. No doubt, the focus of the evening should be the mystery game/show. Don’t become fixated on the food. Hopefully, your food is great. However, the important thing is that you have a fun time. This is not a normal dinner.

Tips for Attending a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater

• Take a notebook and pen. Jot down notes throughout the entire event. Take notes if/when suspects are introduced to the audience. Write down the names and anything that stands out for that character. Keep notes of any exchanges you have throughout the night – either with suspects or other participants.
• At the beginning, take a few minutes to learn your character and study the information you are provided at your seat. Be ready to answers if someone approaches you. (You are not supposed to tell lies.)
• If you have a choice of getting in the buffet line or interviewing suspects first, interview the suspects! Remember, this is the main reason you came! You are a sleuthing detective! Eating can wait!
• Remember, a murder mystery is what you make of it. Dress up! Get into the mood of the evening. Enjoy this foray into a different world for a few hours.
• Carefully, keep your eyes and ears open for information you might “accidentally” overhear or see throughout the night. You may be given money to “bribe” suspects with for information. But why spend money when you can sometimes overhear the same information for free? Be alert!
• Finally, when attempting to solve the murder: don’t be fooled by overly obvious scenarios. Likewise, do not get fixated on one particular character until you determine he/she had BOTH THE MOTIVE AND THE OPPORTUNITY! Most characters will have one or the other, but not both.

More on the first tip: I marched around all night with my little notebook, taking notes. I was the only one out of the 100 people who had a notebook. Ask me if I care. Between my wig and my notebook, those other folks knew I was serious business. Notes are your friends, fellow sleuths!

How to Find a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater Near Me

As I mentioned above, you may be lucky enough to live in or near a city with a year-round murder mystery dinner theater. However, some of us have to look for local venues to occasionally host a mystery dinner. Simply, go to Google and do a search with “murder mystery dinner theater in …” This should give you somewhat of an answer. For instance, when I search “murder mystery dinner theater in Arkansas,” I find several venues within my general area with murder mystery dinner theaters over the last few months. Also, I see I am a two-hour drive from several standard mystery dinner venues.

Surely, you will want to visit some of my other murder mystery posts:

10 Tips for Hosting a Murder Mystery Party

80s Theme Murder Mystery Party

Summer Theme Murder Mystery Parties

Mardi Gras Theme Murder Mystery Party