Open Forum

Original Message------

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

"And Then There Were None" is a lot of work, but an absolute blast!

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Chelsea Petty
Columbus MS
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

My Thespians performed Ax of Murder last spring.  SO well received.  It is tech intensive in the second act especially.  We had an amazing time putting on this show! It is modern and more of a comedic spoof, but still a fun show!

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Amber Hugus
Harmony PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

We just finished Murder's in the Heir. The plot is a bit silly at times and it is definitely a murder mystery comedy, but it was a lot of fun. It does require 15 which I know is a few more people than you have, but you may still look into it. It has multiple endings and the audience gets to vote who they think the killer is during intermission. The audience really enjoyed it. 

I have also heard great things about 39 Steps and I think the casting is very flexible. I have never done this show, but I know another teacher who did it and said the students and audience loved it. 

Good Luck! 

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Elizabeth Nelson
Drama Teacher
Leawood KS
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

If you are allowed to do it... I loved doing Jack the Ripper: Monster of Whitechapel. It's a 3 ending piece and they 3 choices are all very different and one is completely unexpected. Sam French has it

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Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-27-2017 09:52
From: Elizabeth Nelson
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

We just finished Murder's in the Heir. The plot is a bit silly at times and it is definitely a murder mystery comedy, but it was a lot of fun. It does require 15 which I know is a few more people than you have, but you may still look into it. It has multiple endings and the audience gets to vote who they think the killer is during intermission. The audience really enjoyed it. 

I have also heard great things about 39 Steps and I think the casting is very flexible. I have never done this show, but I know another teacher who did it and said the students and audience loved it. 

Good Luck! 

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Elizabeth Nelson
Drama Teacher
Leawood KS
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

We've done The Hound of the Baskervilles - a comic thriller version with Shirley Holmes & Jennie Watson, nieces of you know who.  Fun script, we did it with steampunk costuming. 
But Why Bump Off Barnaby? - Great murder mystery, with some impressive and easy SFX, set in the obligatory old English manor.  And of course, And Then There Were None.

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Tess Pasieka
Drama Advisor
Admin Asst, Student Services
Mascenic Regional School District
New Ipswich NH
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

We just did our first 'mystery' theatre, as well as it being dinner theatre. Can't sing the praises of Eileen Moushey and Mysteries by Moushey enough; there are 40 different titles to choose from, and if you're combining it with a dinner, Moushey provides an absolute gem of a resource in the Production Manuel she supplies with every show. This breaks down everything you want to do to whatever scale you're looking at doing, in terms of including audience participation (clue hunts, interviewing the cast, solutions, how to do prizes, when/how to serve dinner...) so it's an incredibly helpful, practical resource. The show we did was 'Trouble at the Talent Show,' and this was extremely family friendly and quite witty. 

If you're just looking at a traditional play set up, then I've always had a soft spot for J B Priestly's 'An Inspector Calls', or if you're up for some silliness, 'Clue' is also a bucket of fun. And the Mysteries by Moushey plays could also be done as traditional mystery plays as well. 

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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Ruskin FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

I love The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. It also has a lot of humor, especially with the murders. 

I was looking for a comedy murder mystery and it literally fell off the shelf. I took home for a quick read and new immediately I had found our show. It played well as a dinner theater.

Note: It is not a musical.

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Donnie Bryan
Department Chair for Visual and Performing Arts
Nashville TN
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

^{Lots of great suggestions on here, but my best murder-mystery directing experience was with the aforementioned  Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. Lots of twists & turns, great comedic roles of varying sizes and a fun setting. Break a leg!}

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Garry Tiller
Theatre Arts Teaching Artist
Hawaii Independent Schools
Honolulu, HI
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

It is an old one but REHEARSAL FOR MURDER (Richard Levinson and William Link)  still delivers. We did it last spring to a big success. We did an audience contest to guess the killer and fooled almost everyone.  Nice roles for both the girls and the guys. Easy to produce in a 4-5 week timeframe.

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Nell Lynch
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-02-2017 11:52
From: Garry Tiller
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

^{Lots of great suggestions on here, but my best murder-mystery directing experience was with the aforementioned  Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. Lots of twists & turns, great comedic roles of varying sizes and a fun setting. Break a leg!}

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Garry Tiller
Theatre Arts Teaching Artist
Hawaii Independent Schools
Honolulu, HI
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School

Here are few more.

• The Crucifer of Blood, a play by Paul Giovanni; adapted from the Arthur Conan Doyle novel The Sign of the Four.
• In fact Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and William Gillette wrote a play Sherlock Holmes in 1899. Gillette introduced the deer-stalker hat and the phrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson."
• Another Agatha Christie, Witness for the Prosecution. Christie wrote a dozen mystery plays.based on her books
• It's only a two-hander, but Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer is great.

A couple of musicals worth looking at are:

• Something's Afoot,a spoof of Agatha Christie's mysteries. The book, music, and lyrics were written by James McDonald, David Vos, and Robert Gerlach, with additional music by Ed Linderman.
  
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood (or Drood) is a musical based on Charles Dickens'  unfinished final novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Book, music and lyrics by Rupert Holmes. It was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings (determined by audience vote).

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James Van Leishout
Olympia WA
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2017 12:05
From: Jane Martin
Subject: Suggestions for a murder mystery play

My students want to read some murder mystery plays to consider for our next year's high-school production for a cast of about 12 actors.  Ideally, I would like them to read classic scripts, but am open to suggestions.   Have you ever directed a murder mystery play with your students?  If so, how did they compare to your other productions?

Jane Martin

Sonoma Valley High School