From Lancaster Online
This weekend, guests can try to solve a crime between courses during "Murder Me Always," a humorously outrageous production with over-the-top predictable characters — but an unpredictable murder.
"It's a campy show. It's fun," explains director Janet (pronounced Janette) Wood, a costumer and drama director at Columbia High School. Wood also directs the scripted Ghosts of Columbia Tour.
"You don't want to sit down to something heavy at dinner. This is light. The script's a hoot. We're not talking Shakespeare here, but we laughed ourselves silly our first read-through."
The show is a play within a play, Wood says, full of what she calls "stock characters."
"The self-involved ingenue, the gum-chewing femme fatale with no brain, the pompous host... It's classic," she says.
The play within the play runs into all kinds of glitches, but the showstopper is MURDER.
Motives are everywhere of course, but what about opportunity and weapon?
"The audience is invited to help solve the murder. There's a point in the play where people have the chance to question suspects and gather clues," Wood explains. But there's no pressure to participate if you don't want to, she assures.
Prizes will be awarded for correct guesses, however, so be sure to be alert during the production.
"Murder Me Always" will be staged in the lower level of one of Columbia's most recognizable buildings. In its long history, (it was built in the mid 1800s) 200 Locust Street has served in various capacities — as a shoe factory, saloon, church, pharmacy, post office, school, Civil War hospital and more.
