Everyone loves a good mystery. Whether you grew up playing Clue or watching “Scooby-Doo” or the teen mysteries of today like “Riv- erdale,” we all enjoy playing detective from time to time.
Following their successful Dungeons & Dragons Night, the Activities Programming Board has provided students another event for students to take on new personas. Those personas were 20 possible murder suspects. However, things also got retro as the night’s theme was “Totally Rad ’80s Prom Gone Bad.”
The event’s 20 suspects and remaining attendees were each given clues and stories behind their charac- ters to help them solve the mystery at hand. The mur- der mysteries came with a catch though: not even the murderer knows they’re guilty.
The game was split into five stages. The first was wel- coming each guest and en- joying a slice of pizza. After their meal, each player was given an envelope with an objective and fake money to bribe other characters later down the line.
After the first victim is selected at random, the re-
maining suspects were given their status in the game, with each subsequent step dedi- cated to the investigation.
The in-depth character descriptions were unsurpris- ing as the event was the work of both APB and the Game On! Improv Club. Game On had previously held a mur- der mystery dinner event in the fall of 2021. However, they were a smaller group at the time, and so the turnout was significantly smaller. This time, the group was more than happy to let APB join in on the festivities.
“I really wanted to col- laborate with other clubs this semester and I thought a cool idea would be a mur- der mystery with the Improv Club,” Bill Hoffman III, the event coordinator, said. “My hope is that our event can help their club grow, and that this event will be a fun, new activity for the student body.”
“It has been a team ef- fort in working with APB to collectively piece togeth- er a murder mystery,” said Quinn Erney, the secretary of Improv Club. “APB’s Bill Hoffman stopped by Improv earlier this past week [Feb. 16] to ask about getting in- volved. We are the Improv Club, so we are used to doing things on the fly. It’s just sort
of our thing.”
Erney explained the
group’s past endeavors when it came to these types of events, and how much APB has helped it along the way: “We are hoping to not just help APB, but also promote improv in the show as well.”
Erney also dressed up and played the part of principal Simpson in the mystery as well.
All attendees to the event were encouraged to arrive decked out in their best ’80s attire. The theme may have been prom, but students were given free rein to dust off their leg warmers and let- terman jackets.
Some of the other charac- ters included the reporter, assistant coach, cheerleader and many other stereotyp- ical movie tropes, reminis- cent of a John Hughes’ film.
Another Improv Club member joining the cast is, Sammy Haas, the group’s president. “Both the event tonight [Feb. 19] and Im- prov Club are great places to be yourself and come out of one’s shell,” Hass said.
The Game On! Improv Club meets every Thursday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., in Orndorff Theater.
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