Dinner Theatre

Since I have never been to dinner theatre, Kavita and I decided to go together as our first time since we are now both involved in theatre and to support our classmates for their hard work. This year the murder mystery was You Have the Right to Remain Dead. It was interesting when we first arrived because every theatre performance that I’ve attended has been staged in the classic theatre venue. And so this means that food and drink are not allowed. But when we arrived, we were first served dinner by the waiters and waitresses that were also part of the cast.

The show started once we had finished dinner and began with a narrator that captivated the audience with his humor. The cast embodied their characters in terms of action and accents to really fit these southern roles. Although there was only one setting for the entire performance, the cast utilized every inch of the MPR by including extensive audience participation. During the intermission, the cast interacted with the audience asking us who we thought was the murderer. I remember that when Hyacinth (played by Samantha Osaki) approached our table she had completely embodied her character and acted menacingly and threateningly. It was interesting that the audience could participate in solving this murder mystery because I have never attended a performance that allows the audience to question the cast members.

When one audience member had unintentionally referred to Sweet Mama as Big Mama, the actress playing Sweet Mama had stayed in character and played along with this name mishap. Because of this I realized that a good actor is able to perform in any situation and to improvise when necessary. Rather than breaking character because of what had just happened, she portrayed how Sweet Mama was offended by such an insinuation that she is overweight. This demonstrates how a good actor is able to maintain his or her character throughout the entire performance. Overall, dinner theatre was a great experience in exploring a different genre of theatre that I've never been exposed to.