Entering the USC Ballroom Monday evening, there was a sea of chaos coming from people performing with a new identity at the Harborside Activities Board’s Murder Mystery Dinner.
Each person who attended the event, including myself, was given an identity card containing a name, profession, personal description and clues. This information was used while improvising conversations with other ‘party guests’.
At first, no one quite knew what to do, so we wandered around the room until we were instructed to grab something to eat, such as a few cookies or a small grilled cheese with a tomato soup cup, and choose a seat.
Even though there were more seats than students, the room still felt crowded with everyone's combined voices and movement.
Our announcer for the evening walked to the front of the room and explained that we were now guests at a party and it was time to mingle. After another moment of confusion, it was clarified that we were to get up and start talking to one another.
Although it was extremely awkward at first trying to talk to strangers under an assumed identity, everyone eventually got the hang of it and took control of our new names, occupations, and stories.
Improvisation was extremely important to the event because each character had clues they could share, and clues that needed to stay hidden. This wasn’t fully explained at first, but guests figured it out.
Once there was a lull in the conversations, a new round of clues was given out to keep the story going.
A murder had just been committed, and guests were now tasked with finding out the killer’s identity.
Some people got into groups to try and solve the mystery, but it was still hard to know who to talk to for clues, and how to determine if they were lying.
Following the murder investigation, final solution cards were handed out and certain guests were chosen to walk to the front and explain their motive (or lack thereof), give an alibi and tell the truth about their character.
The guests had fun shouting out phrases like, “I knew you were lying,” or “I can’t believe you didn’t do it!”
Finally, a young man came forward, announced his guilt and shared his motive. Oddly enough, I had only talked to him once over the course of the event, so I was quite surprised.
The announcer then shared the whole story of the event, but I struggled to follow it and got confused towards the end. After that, the party was over and guests were free to leave.
Overall, I quite enjoyed the event. Guests were able to have fun playing under a new identity, improvising conversations and solving a mystery.
Unfortunately, there were many awkward moments, times where things got very chaotic and parts of the story were muddled. It was hard to follow so many story lines when everyone just wandered around talking.
As a commuting student, I do think the event was interesting enough to drive out to attend, but it needs more organization if I am going to attend it a second time and recommend it to others.
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