Sooner Theatre will open its annual fundraising murder mystery show Wednesday. This year’s production is titled “The Marina Murder Mystery Deep Dive.”
Written and directed by James Briggs, Norman park development manager, the show follows a podcaster solving a murder by a lake and invites audiences to follow along with the mystery. Guests will eat a catered dinner from Benvenuti’s Ristorante while watching the show and interacting with actors during intermissions.
Jennifer Baker, executive director of Sooner Theatre, has worked on the show since 2003. Baker started as a cast member, later moving into an administrative role.
Baker said the show is always new and wacky.
“It is wrong, it’s crazy, it’s ridiculous but it’s been going for all these years for a reason,” Baker said.
The show features a mix of improv and choreographed numbers. All music will be performed live by a band composed of Norman community members and will include songs such as “Afternoon Delight” and “Somebody to Love.”
Baker said the show’s cast features a variety of Norman residents.
“I’m always excited about the music, because you’re watching someone sing that you wouldn’t expect to sing, like maybe your anesthesiologist,” Baker said.
The show doubles as a fundraiser where audience members can tip actors to receive clues to solve the murder. The theater also auctions off a role in the following year’s murder mystery fundraiser to an audience member.
The fundraiser money goes to scholarships for students in the theater’s education programs, which run year-round. Last year, the theater gave out nearly $70,000 in scholarships to almost 1,300 enrolled students.
Baker said the fundraiser is crucial to the theater’s mission of keeping the arts accessible.
“We have a philosophy here that we will never turn away a child because they can’t afford it, …” Baker said. “Every dollar, every $20, every $100 bill that we get on those crazy intermissions … it all counts.”
The show began in the 1980s when Sooner Theatre board members Pam Talley and Mark Krittenbrink hosted the first murder mystery in Talley’s living room. Since then, the fundraiser has continued annually.
Performances are 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at The Studio of The Sooner Theatre. Tickets are available online for $125 per ticket.
This story was edited by Audrey McClour and Macey Thaxton. Ryan Little and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
