Murder at the Morgue: Dinner theatre acted out by the guests

PALMER — This Saturday, The Annex will bring an audience together with a common goal: to sleuth out a murderer. About 50 people are each assigned a character with their purchase of a ticket. Each character has a back-story and relationships and “gossips” with other characters. Alternatively, about 15 guests will be assigned an investigator role.

Much in the spirit of the board game “Clue,” the premise for Murder at The Morgue is titled, “Murder in Manhattan” and centers around a dinner party where a wealthy business owner invites a group of people with varying occupations and connections to each other and the host. In the course of the evening (Act 1), someone is murdered. No one going into this thing knows who it’s going to be. It could even be them! After the murder (Act 2), each guest with a nametag and list of information will mingle with other guests trying to solve the mystery. A vote will be taken and someone will be accused of the heinous crime.

Turkey Red and Non-Essentials will cater to the crime-solving guests, refreshing them with treats like blueberry tarts and smoked salmon. Turkey Red is providing the event license and bartender to wash it all down with beer or wine.

Jan Newman, the office coordinator for The Annex is spearheading this murderous operation. This is the second year for the murder mystery event at the Annex. She says that last year was very well received and everyone had a lot of fun. Last year had different approach, however. A local writer jotted up a mystery to solve, which was acted out by “homegrown” actors from H.A.M.S. (Homeless Actors of Mat Su). It was done in October and this year is taking it up in November within a special window of time, according to Newman. This year, Newman and her associates purchased a dinner party package from the Internet and tweaked it to their wants and needs, adding the investigator roles, altering or adding information and “gossip.”

She says she wants to try something new this year and it’s an experiment. She believes that this time frame is good for people to “blow off some steam this Saturday” before the election on Tuesday.

Events like this are common for the Annex. The Annex’s business model is facilitating all kinds of purposes, ranging from casual meet-ups to lecture series, art exhibits or political rallies.

“We like people to know this is the collaboration space,” Newman said.

Newman said that The Annex, built in 1952, used to be the Palmer City Morgue — hence the event’s title.