STRAIGHT MURDER MYSTERIES

We provide a variety of themes for straight murder mystery dinners for private parties and corporate events. We consult with you to come up with the best approach for the group involved, whether it is for a family or employees of a company. The Straight Murder Mystery is the industry standard, though we've been known to take it to the next level.

STRAIGHT MURDER MYSTERIES

ENTERTAINING YOUR PRIVATE PARTIES AND CORPORATE EVENTS


The Straight Murder Mystery is the industry standard. A group of actors interacts with your audience starting during cocktails getting out an understanding of who the characters are. During dinner, we interact at the tables, argue around the room, and have moments in front of the audience as a whole. This leads to a murder that occurs at the beginning of dessert. We rarely have gunshots as we don't want to risk a heart attack among the audience. Then our comedic detective performs a comedy routine interrogating audience members. Often the detective is played by the same actor that played the victim to keep the cost down. The audience then solves the crime by table, usually, with the winners getting small prizes. And, of course, they laugh all along the way.

SOME THEMES

These are just a few. Usually we customize scenarios to our client's desires.

alderman murder mystery 20's

Death of The Alderman

This 1920's themed party involves the election of an Alderman to the local city council. The party is a celebration of his victory and those in attendance are his supporters dressed as flappers and mobsters. This includes the North Side Mob, the South Side Mob, his spouse, political figures and temperance workers. It's a great time had by all and we can add a costume contest as well.

family murder mystery

The Meeting of the Family

This mobster themed show involves the head of the local family. Taking on the personality of your city, the show quickly customizes to the audience involved. Suspects usually include a spouse, a Consigliari, a rival mobster and a politician in the pocket of the mob.

millionaire's mansion

Murder of The Millionaire

One of the more standard scenarios, this involves a millionaire who made his wealth on the backs of many others. This is a celebration were he is making an announcement about the future of his business and those potentially effected are not happy. This likely includes a spouse, a girlfriend, a business partner, a yes-man, a competitor and a politician. By changing characters and changing the origin of his fortune we can quickly customize a scenario just for your group.

spy secret agent

The Murder of 008

Our own take on the spy genre has the death of 008. You Only Live Twice? Not so fast! Our second fiddle secret agent to his more famous counterpart decides to retire and a rogues gallery of suspects emerge.

movie music mogul

The Movie or Music Mogul

This 1940's Hollywood themed party involves the celebration of a movie mogul. The various pseudo famous actors, actresses, writers, singers and directors suffer at the whims of the mogul and one of them has gotten their revenge. While originally performed as being in the 1940s, we have done an 80's Music Mogul scenario or different eras.

custom scenarios

Custom Scenarios

We have a collection of great themes that can fit most any occasion. Additionally, we can create just about any scenario that you can think of, and often at no additional cost. The costs do rise when additional costumes, more actors or travel is required. We have performed practically every thing you can think of and can create new ones as needed. If you have a themed party and would like to see if we can provide a show that will fit, simply ask. There is never an obligation until we get a signed contract.


A customized Straight Murder Mystery show written just for you is a perfect way to have quality entertainment that has your audience laughing. These are perfect to entertain for holiday parties, weddings, family gatherings, season kick-offs, banquets, dinners or charity fundraisers!

FLOW OF THE EVENING

RUN TIME ANYWHERE FROM 90 MINUTES TO 3 HOURS

  1. COCKTAILS - we are already in character, interacting with your audience as they arrive. Mostly we are introducing the characters to the audience and creating more of a festive atmosphere.
  2. GETTING SEATED - our host gets people seated at the appropriate time and delivers THE SPEECH. This is where we explain how the evening will work and how to play the game. The characters may be introduced in front of the audience.
  3. DINNER - we help move things along by facilitating the servers' efforts or by releasing people appropriately to buffet lines. In the meantime, our performers are having arguments and fights around the room, interact with audience members, and provide small speeches or moments in front of the audience to get plot points out to the audience while entertaining at the same time.
  4. MURDER - once people are leaning back in their chairs after eating, or during the beginning of dessert, we have the murder. Our VICTIM will be in front of everyone and die. This is usually a poisoning to avoid potential problems, but we can accommodate your desires. Often, the victim comes back as the Detective, or we can use a separate actor if you prefer. If a separate Detective, then we could let people take pictures with the victim like Weekend at Bernies!
  5. INVESTIGATION - our Detective is a professional comedian with years of experience with crowd work. The Detective pulls people up and interrogates them to get information out about our suspects. While the comedian pokes a little bit of fun along the way, the comedian usually leaves them looking like rock stars, building them up rather than tearing them down.
  6. RESOLUTION - we solve the crime in one of three ways. For the first, which is going table to table to answer questions, could take much longer with audiences of more than 60 or so. The Second, each table views the interrogations and then submits their answers. The Third stations the suspects around the room and allowing people to interrogate them for a set amount of time and bringing the information back to their tables so that they can come up with a group answer. The Fourth, we resolve it on stage using something that we call the Chief Prosecutors. This brings people up from the audience to MAKE THEIR CASE. We get the answers, present the correct murderer and reward the winners, along with some fun people from the audience. This is a great choice for larger groups of 90 or more. Unlike some companies, we are 100% confident that someone will have given the correct answer!

WE USE YOUR PARTY THEME
We have many themes and can customize to just about any other that you can think of. Some of the more common themes include: The 1920's or 1930's for a Prohibition Era party, A Millionaire's Mansion, A Movie Mogul, Mobsters, A Wedding, Spies, and many others. If you want to have a particular theme that is not on this page, just let us know!

themes
We have several add-ons that can be provided for any event.
  • Wandering Minstrels
  • INFORMANTS
  • DJs
  • SINGERS
  • DANCERS
  • AUDITION BOOTHS
  • KARAOKE
  • WINE TASTING
  • LESSONS OF MANY TYPES
coronavirus

WE CARE FOR YOU! We care for you and your guests. We will discuss your desires for safety measures regarding Covid-19 and want you to feel secure in the knowledge that we are looking out for you, our client.

OUR GREEN COMMITMENT While ultimately we serve our clients in the way that they require, we work hard to reduce the carbon footprint of any event. We recycle, utilize local talent when preferable, and look to leave places better than we found them. When we do travel, we take pains to reduce our impact on the environment.

green events

We provide straight murder mystery dinner shows throughout the United States, and even beyond! Wherever you might be along the Atlantic Coast, the MidWest, the South, the West Coast, or anywhere else, we stand ready to help your group to have fun. This includes in the big cities, the suburbs, or further outside the urban areas. We do not provide the food or the venue. We come to you and help you to succeed in business without really trying!

food venue

WE COME TO YOU!
We work with groups that are small, medium and large. We also work with people that are in the city, the suburbs, and that are in more rural areas. It never made sense to get our own facilities. We come to a venue of your choosing and this allows you to make your own food and beverage options. In general, you want enough light to see, enough space to move around comfortably, and it should be quiet enough to hear. Everything else can be adjusted to. We also have our insurance in order and can have COIs with your venue as an additional insured, if required.

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW

1

WHAT IS THE REASON?

The first step is to determine your needs. This includes potential goals, desires and concerns. Is it more than just entertainment? If you are looking to show appreciation to clients or employees, for example, then we would take one approach. If it is family and friends, we might approach it differently. The more we know about what has already been decided can allow us to narrow the conversation to approaches that interest you.

2

WHAT ARE THE DETAILS? WHERE? WHEN? HOW MANY?

We need to know the city where the event will be as well as what kind of venue might be used. A date, or date range, for when you would like to have this and what time frame you are looking for will help to determine our commitment and availability. Knowing the size of your group, though that will likely just be an estimate, will allow us to choose appropriate options for the performance and have a better feel for the resources required.

3

DO YOU HAVE A BUDGET?

If you know budget limitations, that can allow us to restrict the conversations to those options that will be within your financial constraints. This works in both directions. We don't want to overbuild and propose options that can't be done. Also, we don't want to not provide a large enough of a show to achieve the results that will exceed your expectations.

CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE

We want to hear from you. Call us at 866.219.4386 or email info@THEYimprov.com.

MURDER MYSTERIES

PRIVATE PARTIES AND CORPORATE EVENTS

testimonial

I just want to say "What a Great Murder Mystery at the Millionaire Mansion - Casa Marina." Everyone seemed to have a good time and your actors/actress were great.

Some of Our Clients

We have worked with over half of the Fortune 500. These are just a few of our high-profile clients that have entertained over the years.