This past Friday evening, the Student Programming Board (SPB) and Powder & Wig, the College’s student-run theater club, hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner in Foss Dining Hall. The hour-long immersive experience featured a special buffet menu and a performance of the play, This Murder Was Staged.
Attendees were required to reserve a table in advance for one of two showtimes, which were offered back-to-back from 5 to 6 p.m. and from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. The second showing was in such high demand that they opened an additional six tables to accommodate. According to Ava Beringer `27, publicity chair of Powder & Wig, the cast was excited about the turnout.
“So many people showed up. Usually we have really great, supportive crowds for Powder & Wig, but… I feel like we attracted more of a general audience who were there for the delicious food and then also, you know, there’s a show going on,” Beringer said. Katelyn Puglia `27, director of This Murder Was Staged, added, “It was really exciting to have a ton of people come to our show who maybe haven’t seen a Powder & Wig show before… I’m hoping that maybe they continue to come to our shows or even get involved themselves.”
No “Murder Mystery Dinner” can be considered complete without a delicious menu. The culinary offerings of the night were diverse, on-theme, and vegetarian-friendly. Each of the twenty-two dishes and drinks was designed to pair perfectly with the show. Audience favorites included Bloody Beet Hummus, Graveyard Chili, and Death by Cheesecake Bites.
Puglia found that working with dining services to achieve her vision for the night was a piece of cake. Dining staff designed the entire menu, putting thought and care into each edible creation. In her words, “Dining really went above and beyond. I really appreciate everything they did for this show. I was able to, at one of the SPB meetings, chat with them a little bit about our ideas and themes, and then they came up with pretty much all of [the menu].”
She was impressed not only by their commitment to ensuring the evening went smoothly, but also by their genuine enthusiasm about supporting such a unique student-led event, and went on to say that “[a]ll the dining staff were talking to me saying how excited they were for the show, and I just really appreciated how willing they were to collaborate with students.”
After everyone had filed in and sat down at their assigned tables with plates piled high, Puglia mounted the stage, bringing the volume of the room down to a hush. She gave a quick thanks to the audience, cast, and crew, and the play began.
Performing in Foss Dining Hall was not without its challenges. Powder & Wig was tasked with staying true to the play’s script, working with the constraints of the building, and attempting to make the show an immersive experience for the audience. Puglia, describing the process of shortening the original script to account for limited time, explained, “It was definitely a collaborative thing of deciding what would work in the space.” Throughout the play, performers made use of the stage at the east end of the dining hall, spoke from the top of the large staircase at the entrance, and walked amongst the audience members in the main seating area.
Multiple cast members, including McKenzie Martin `26 and Beringer, played two roles, requiring costume changes. However, Foss does not have a green room, which is a space performers traditionally use for changing and resting between scenes. Their quick costume changes instead took place in a small alcove separated from the main seating area by a wall. Martin found that “[i]t was unconventional, but… it worked.”
Each cast member was very involved in the costume design. Puglia found that people were eager to figure out what would work best for their characters and “[a] lot of people came up with their own ideas for their costumes and their costume changes, so it was really cool to see what people did with that. People definitely got creative, and it turned out really well.”
Beringer, who wore an adhesive mustache for one of her roles, disclosed that “[t]he mustache was falling off, but that honestly made it more fun.” She enjoyed finding the humor in the unexpected moments, like performing with a half-glued mustache, that arose throughout the back-to-back performances, and shared that “[i]t was a comedy, so… if you have to do improv at any point, there’s always a way to make it fun because it’s just, at the end of the day, we’re just having fun.”
Various members of the cast credited the high audience turnout and success of the event in part to the College’s supportive atmosphere. Beringer expressed that “[s]omething so great about Colby is just how close knit and supportive everyone is,” and was eager to applaud “the culture at Colby of supporting each other’s art.” Catie Corkery `28 said, “The community and the collaboration, especially for this show, were… really cool to experience.”
Building community that is supportive and uplifting is important to the College, and it is also a core aspect of Powder & Wig. The club was founded in 1926, when the men’s and women’s theater groups decided to join together, creating a new group that welcomed all. Next year, the entirely student-run club will celebrate its hundredth anniversary. Puglia noted, “Students have been doing this and keeping this going for so long.” The club’s endurance indicates the passion and dedication of its many generations of members.
Powder & Wig has been a very meaningful part of many students’ experiences here at the College. Beringer has appreciated “having an outlet at Colby to do theater in a super chill environment with a bunch of super talented people.” For Martin, the community has sealed the deal, and she asserted that “everyone [she’s] met [in Powder & Wig], [she’s] had a good experience with.” Puglia was able to explore an entirely new facet of her creativity through her involvement with the club. She said, “Doing Powder & Wig was the first time I’ve ever had, like, speaking roles in plays.” She is now the club’s president.
In Puglia’s experience, the accessible nature of Powder & Wig has been one of the club’s strengths. She made a point to extend an invitation to everyone in the College community, “Even if you have no theater experience or no directing experience or no tech experience, you can come be a part of Powder & Wig… If people want to get involved, they can definitely reach out to us. We’re always looking for show submissions, for people who want to act and do tech.”
Careful observers may have noticed that the publicity for the dinner described it as the “First Annual” Murder Mystery Dinner, implying intent to host this event yearly. Puglia said only that it’s “something [they’ll] look into doing again for sure.”
Whether or not another Murder Mystery Dinner ever graces the stage of Foss Dining Hall, this foray into the world of dinner theater was certainly a rousing success for Powder & Wig. Congratulations are owed to the director, the actors, and the many other members of the College community who contributed effort and enthusiasm every step of the way.
~ Anna Izquierdo `29
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