Mercer Players hosted a night of intrigue and murder mystery on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The club's president, Danica Dilione ‘27, invited students via email to join the club, encouraging attendees to dress in 1920s attire and providing short descriptions of the night’s roles. The club hosts themed Murder Mystery nights every semester. This time around, characters included the “Gangster,” “Detective,” “Photographer” and many more.
Students trickled into the Tattnall Square Center for the Arts and began studying sheets that revealed their character's biography, relationships and secrets. Various people followed the garb instructions closely, such as Lee Wood ‘25, who decorated himself in a full suit, carrying a cane to fit his role as “The Billionaire: rich, powerful and morally ambiguous,” according to Dilione's notes.
After privately examining their sheets, each person read their character's biography aloud. Marty Respess ‘26 embraced his role as “The Pilot: adventurous, manly and a little dense,” boisterously claiming that he killed three grizzly bears – with his bare hands.
Dilione led actors into the kitchen, providing snacks and drinks for people as they mingled. Suddenly, Wood, “The Billionaire,” fell to the ground in a tragic death with clues spewing out of his pockets. Attendees began shouting accusations and pointing fingers at one another as Wood circled the area as a ghost, unable to speak or interact.
Vice President Sahithi Doddaka ‘26 played the originally “brooding” detective, but she said she redesigned the role in her own vision. Doddaka urged participants to take their own spin on the roles to fit their various acting styles.
“We found it was a really good way for people to improve their acting improv skills,” Doddaka said. “People have to act as the character, do stuff on the fly.”
Dilione ordered the guests to vacate the room with the body.
As the murders continued, players were tasked with voting off the mystery killer, as well as selecting the best death scene and actor. Cries of “I knew it!” filled the room as Dilione revealed Respess, the grizzly bear-killing pilot, was the killer – which came as a surprise to Respess himself.
Mercer Players’ want to expand their outreach across campus. They are currently in the works of planning an open-invite potluck.
"We're always looking for new faces,” Dilione said. “If you never want to act, you never have to.”
