Iowa Citians can solve murder-mystery-comedy

by Reed Dunn - September 28, 2002

Something has gone awry in the house of Edwin Meyer, and Iowa City has a chance to solve the mystery.

The Quad Cities-based professional murder mystery theater company, It’s A Mystery, is planning a Friday performance of Meyer's Last Resort." Company founder Scott Naumann wrote the script, which will be played out during a formal dinner.

"It's a very stereotypical murder mystery," Naumann said of the improvisational production. "It's a comedy whodunit."

Meyer is a billionaire patriarch who calls family and friends to dinner. Other slapstick characters, including his children and a twentysomething mistress, are expecting an announcement. The action is turned upside down when a murder is introduced.

Naumann and his wife, Shelly, started It’s A Mystery in October 1997 after a casual dinner conversation brought out the idea. The couple gathered some of their community theater friends and the company was born.

"It was almost motivated by some kind of Scooby Doo, solve-the-mystery kind of thing," Naumann said.

As the audience arrives for dinner, they are introduced to the characters of the show. Naumann said a stereotypical card shark-type character might greet guests as they arrive. Clue packets are given to each table as the action unfolds.

"We supplement the script with things the audience gives us," Naumann said. "If you've got a lady who snorts when she laughs or anything like that, we can use that for our comedy."

Barb Engstrom has appeared in more than a dozen Quad Cities-area It’s A Mystery productions. She said the theater style is laid back and appeals to a more relaxed audience.

"Every time you do this, it's a different experience," Engstrom said. "You always have a different audience."

Naumann said murder mysteries are not "high-brow theater." People can relax and expect to be entertained. "At the end of the day we really have to flat entertain people," he said.

It’s A Mystery regularly stages one of eight locally-written scripts at Abbey Station in Rock Island, IL. Naumann said many regulars come from Iowa City and are the reason for staging shows at the Sheraton.

"We just really want to duplicate our success in the Quad Cities in that rich, cultural Iowa City market," he said. If Friday's show is successful, It’s A Mystery plans to perform once a month at the Iowa City hotel.

The over-the-top comedy of murder mysteries follows the trend of improvisational theater that has been popularized through television in the form of Saturday Night Live or Who's Line Is It Anyway?

"People find humor in the unexpected," Engstrom said. "They like it because they can get involved. They can eat and drink and be part of the show. People enjoy that."

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