Master Mystery Productions (MMP)Daniel Stallings–
All aboard. Master Mystery Productions returns to stage a new interactive murder mystery play in Ridgecrest set aboard a speeding train during the Roaring Twenties titled How to Solve a Murder. Marking the playwriting debut of MMP Hall of Fame Artist Janis Kunz, the play is a hilarious romp inspired by P. G. Wodehouse’s classic “Jeeves and Wooster” stories, Agatha Christie mysteries, and the Golden Age of British Detective Fiction. Onboard the 2:30 to Beddington, impassioned armchair amateur sleuth Archibald Reeves, born in privilege and without any measurable deductive talents, has taken a fancy to be a detective and decides to start sleuthing aboard his train for clues to a local doctor’s murder. Aided and abetted by his valet, the beleaguered Mr. Brewster, with a skill of getting his master out of scrapes, Reeves will leave no suitcase, briefcase, or knitting bag unturned in his pursuit of the truth, even if that means getting on the nerves of the conductor. What Reeves lacks in crime-solving skills, he makes up for with a talent for getting into trouble. With an actress-turned-princess, a nervous banker, a lady who inherited a manor house, a suspicious, shifty-eyed pair, and a daydreaming bookworm onboard, who better than Reeves and Brewster to show them all how to solve a murder? That is, if they aren’t beaten to the punch by the other passengers. With mistaken identities, missing bodies, and madcap antics, How to Solve a Murder will keep you guessing (and laughing) throughout the night.
Starring Daniel Stallings, Murolo Patchin, Devanne Fredette, Nicole Johnson, Madeleine Smith, Anton Patchin, Libby Mitchell, Allison Mitchell, and Janis Kunz, the play will invite guests to match wits with the witless Archibald Reeves and try to solve a murder before he does. Guests are welcome to dress in their favorite 1920s fashion for the show.
How to Solve a Murder, a Reeves and Brewster mystery play written by Janis Kunz and directed by Daniel Stallings, performs November 3, 4, 10, 17, and 18, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. at the VFW Ship 4084 (117 N. Alvord St.) in Ridgecrest, CA. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors (55+) and military (w/ID), and kids under 5 for free. A portion of the proceeds go to the VFW. Tickets are on sale now at Red Rock Books. Doors open at 7 p.m. For more information, visit mastermysteryproductions.com or Master Mystery Productions on Facebook.
