The Athens AM Rotary will perform “Alien Invasion! Murder Mystery Dinner Theater” to fundraise for local service projects.
Audience members at the Athens AM Rotary’s murder mystery dinner theater Friday will all be asked one very important question: who is an alien?
The Rotary’s sixth annual production will be performed Friday at 7 p.m. in Nelson Commons.
In a typical murder mystery production, actors play out a story in which one or more characters die, and the audience must try to figure out who the murderer is. The Rotary is putting a twist on tradition, and audience members must figure out which characters are aliens, which are humans, and who dies.
One ticket for “Alien Invasion! Murder Mystery Dinner Theater” will get audience members dinner, a show and automatic entry into drawings for prizes, such as hot air balloon rides and free hotel stays.
Jenny Stotts, a Rotary member, planning committee member and actor in the production, said the group is expecting a sold-out show.
“We sell out every year,” Stotts said.
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The ticket price increased last year from $55 to $75, but Stotts said they have not had any difficulty selling the tickets at the higher price.
“Most people buy the ticket knowing they’re really contributing to a good cause,” she said.
The dinner theater is the Rotary’s biggest fundraiser, with the money earned going to a variety of projects that help serve the Athens area. The projects include keeping the Resource Room at Athens Middle School stocked with school supplies and personal items for students who need them.
Money raised by the dinner theater also goes toward the Craig Copeland Community Service and Involvement Scholarship, which the Rotary awards to one high school senior in each of the five Athens County school districts.
Stotts said this year’s production will be unique and localized because it was written by two locals, Faith Knutsen and John Glazer.
“The play has a lot of local flavor,” Stotts said.
Dave Simon, president-elect of the Athens Rotary and planning analyst at Ohio University, has been in the dinner theater productions for the last five years and is playing a college sophomore in this year’s production.
While murder mysteries are known to contain lots of audience participation, Simon said this year’s production will have even more than usual, making it a little more interesting for onlookers.
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“Even more than in previous years, we involve the audience,” Simon said. “It’s a very interactive play. We involve everybody in the audience.”
What the Rotary hopes more than anything, Simon said, is that those who attend the production will have fun.
“Really, we just hope to have a lot of fun,” he said. “The audience understands that we’re not professional actors and we’re just there to have fun. I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm there, and people just have a blast.”
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