When mayor and prohibition advocate Big Bill Taylor turns up at Kitty Malone’s — one of the Windy City’s many swanky speakeasies — his enemies track him down. Audiences will help Detective Philip Merlot solve the crime.
“Audiences for generations have been thrilled at being entertained by mysteries. From Edgar Allen Poe’s stories to Sherlock Holmes, from radio plays to Ellery Queen mysteries, from movies to plethora of crime-drama TV like Murder She Wrote, Columbo, NCIS, Barnaby Jones, CSI and Castle. Audiences love a good mystery,” Snider said.
Guests are encouraged to dress in Roaring-1920s attire and they can enjoy a signature cocktail for the evening, “Murder in a Glass,” which is a modern, gin-inspired cocktail. A cash bar will be available throughout the evening.
“This is our final event of the 2022-2023 season, and we’re finishing up in our ballroom as part of our Jazz & Cabaret Series with ‘Prohibition Murder!’ It is a murder mystery event, which is the very first time we’ve done anything like this,” said Ian MacKenzie-Thurley, executive director of the Fitton Center.
Audience members can sit back and watch, or they can choose to be more involved. At the beginning, the host will introduce the characters and tell everybody about the setting and the storyline. Before intermission, there will be a murder.
Following intermission, there will be an interrogation of all of the suspects and guests will be able to ask questions about the suspects. They can also vote on the suspects.
“We thought this would be a lot of fun, and a great way to end our season,” MacKenzie-Thurley said. “It’s a classic whodunit, live and on stage.”
Murder mystery nights have been popular across the country and the Fitton Center wanted to put their own spin on it with this production led by Snider and his team, he said.
“As always, we just try to find something a little new and different for our audiences here at the Fitton Center, and things we haven’t tried before,” MacKenzie-Thurley said.
How to go
What: “Prohibition Murder!”
When: 7:30 p.m. May 20
Where: Fitton Center for Creative Arts, Carruthers Signature Ballroom, 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton
Cost: $32 for Fitton Center members, $39 for non-members
More info: fittoncenter.org or (513) 863-8873 ext. 110
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