Murder Mystery Party entertains audience with clever improv
David Von Nordheim
Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: News
Many gathered together for the annual Murder Mystery Party at 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26 in the Western Illinois University Lamoine Room.
"I thought the name (of the event) was self-explanatory, like it was some sort of dramatization of a game of Clue," said freshman forensic chemistry major Meredith Bertels. "It turned out to be a gonzo improv comedy routine and a really entertaining one at that."
The show, which was a production of Custom Comedy Capers, a Chicago-area entertainment troupe, did not deliver a mentally taxing or emotionally charged suspense story but rather a screwball account of paranormal havoc wreaked by the undead spirit of Western's (fictitious) first Homecoming queen. Her origin was fleshed out in a
particularly memorable bit in which audience members were asked to give responses to prompts such as "advice your grandmother would give you."
The answers provided dialogue for a scene between two of the performers, reenacting the events of a fateful Homecoming night circa 1899.
"Someone in the audience gave 'Don't let him put his thing in you!' as an answer," said Amanda Vanoskey, freshman forensic chemistry major. "Everyone was waiting to see how the performers would react when they had to read it. It was really impressive how quick-witted they were with the material."
The performers, posing as a paranormal investigator with an impossibly thick German accent, a psychic mouthpiece for the undead and a professor of psychology from Western, were clearly involved in their roles and experienced in improvised comedy.
Even the more strange and cryptic of the audience's responses were handled with skill and wry humor. When one audience member posed the question "Does hell exist?" during a bit involving the performers and one audience member ad-libbing answers by each supplying one word of a sentence at a time, the response was, "Hell exists all over Macomb."
Every sketch involved audience participation, and lots of it, in creating the warped and hilariously convoluted account, which ended up involving an active volcano on campus, male pregnancy, the phrase "horizontal lambada" and the reason why oranges are orange.
The participants were clearly having a blast, especially during the climax of the performance, in which they were tasked with solving the murder of a Western student who was "slain" while attending the event.
"We were told that subtle clues had been given throughout the performance, so I really put a lot of thought into it. I should've expected the explanation to be as bizarre as the rest of the storyline," Bertels said.
Everyone in attendance formed outlandish conspiracy theories to explain the homicide. The contestants pinned the murder on the performers, on each other and even on WESTEC, but in the end the true assassin emerged as a member of the University Union Board, who deserves recognition for organizing the whole event.
"I had a blast. It's great that we have an organization like the UUB to plan and coordinate activities like this. They're the unsung heroes of the school," Vanoskey said.
"I thought the name (of the event) was self-explanatory, like it was some sort of dramatization of a game of Clue," said freshman forensic chemistry major Meredith Bertels. "It turned out to be a gonzo improv comedy routine and a really entertaining one at that."
The show, which was a production of Custom Comedy Capers, a Chicago-area entertainment troupe, did not deliver a mentally taxing or emotionally charged suspense story but rather a screwball account of paranormal havoc wreaked by the undead spirit of Western's (fictitious) first Homecoming queen. Her origin was fleshed out in a
particularly memorable bit in which audience members were asked to give responses to prompts such as "advice your grandmother would give you."
The answers provided dialogue for a scene between two of the performers, reenacting the events of a fateful Homecoming night circa 1899.
"Someone in the audience gave 'Don't let him put his thing in you!' as an answer," said Amanda Vanoskey, freshman forensic chemistry major. "Everyone was waiting to see how the performers would react when they had to read it. It was really impressive how quick-witted they were with the material."
The performers, posing as a paranormal investigator with an impossibly thick German accent, a psychic mouthpiece for the undead and a professor of psychology from Western, were clearly involved in their roles and experienced in improvised comedy.
Even the more strange and cryptic of the audience's responses were handled with skill and wry humor. When one audience member posed the question "Does hell exist?" during a bit involving the performers and one audience member ad-libbing answers by each supplying one word of a sentence at a time, the response was, "Hell exists all over Macomb."
Every sketch involved audience participation, and lots of it, in creating the warped and hilariously convoluted account, which ended up involving an active volcano on campus, male pregnancy, the phrase "horizontal lambada" and the reason why oranges are orange.
The participants were clearly having a blast, especially during the climax of the performance, in which they were tasked with solving the murder of a Western student who was "slain" while attending the event.
"We were told that subtle clues had been given throughout the performance, so I really put a lot of thought into it. I should've expected the explanation to be as bizarre as the rest of the storyline," Bertels said.
Everyone in attendance formed outlandish conspiracy theories to explain the homicide. The contestants pinned the murder on the performers, on each other and even on WESTEC, but in the end the true assassin emerged as a member of the University Union Board, who deserves recognition for organizing the whole event.
"I had a blast. It's great that we have an organization like the UUB to plan and coordinate activities like this. They're the unsung heroes of the school," Vanoskey said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Mike
posted 10/31/09 @ 11:57 AM CST
The obese lesbian vampire who asked the performers if she'd get a date was the only frightening thing about this event. But it was totally 'lol' all the same. (Continued…)
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