So I've been tapped to write a dinner theater play to go on stage in March.


Yeah, I've been given a green light. I can write basically anything I want and put it into this show. It's basically my first "big gig." The last one, which I "helped" with (which means, I rewrote the ending cause it was stupid) was attended by a little more than 120 people, so we're expecting the same thing for the next one. Either way, it's bigger than anything I've done yet.


Anyway, since it's supposed to be a mystery, the format is roughly like this: people eat a salad, then see the first scene. Then they eat their appetizer, while the cast walks around in the audience. People can ask them questions, talk to them, etc. Then the second scene, and more food and cast mingling. Next is the third scene, and after that another break of food and chat. Then we have the final scene and dessert. Right before the end, the audience gets to vote who is the true culprit and we see if they're right.


Last time there was no culprit per se -- whoever got the most votes was the thief. Stupid (that's why I rewrote the ending -- the detective did it :P).


That's why I'm currently working a a REAL mystery dinner theater. And of course being the giant Phoenix Wright fan I am, I'd love to do something in the 'vein' of PW. So, while I have a general idea of the plot and stuff, I thought it'd be nice to toss some ideas around with anybody here, since you know, this is a PW board and all.


Basic idea of the plot: "A valuable painting is stolen from a museum. It was planned to have been auctioned off and the money given to charity, but that's no longer the case. The person accused of stealing it is the security guard who was supposed to be protecting it at the night of the crime. He brings his case to a defense attorney who agrees to take his case and defend him in court. Was it the admiring art critic? The detective? The nosy photographer? Perhaps the little kid who got locked in the museum overnight saw something?"


The crazy double-meaning names are also gonna be part of this (people liked 'em last time). These are just some random ideas of mine.

-Joseph Cloud the 9th (attorney?)
-Raymond Newdells (defendant?)
-Iza Mia Marione (nosy photographer?)
-Casey Solved (detective?)


After much long-winded-ness... if you're still reading (geez, are you even human?) I guess you're at least somewhat interested. I suppose it may seem odd me putting this all up here, but I guess I'd like some input since I don't have anyone I know who's into courtroom drama/detective/whatever stories/games/movies/plays. Plus since this is such a great PW community I knew someone would probably come up with better names than I could think of.


So... anyone think this is a cool idea? Sucks? I really wanna do the over-the-top yelling Objection, crazy witnesses, ruthless prosecutor sorta play here. "Inspired by PW." Or something. I dun wanna steal any ideas (I don't want a bumbling detective unless I can make it unique) and I don't want a prosecutor with a cravat (actually, scratch that, they're too cool not to use :P) and the like.

So any input in any way?

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Hopefully it works out for ya good luck

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Are you gonna have a big turnabout? Like the painting never actually left the museum, and have two votes...one for the culprit, and one for the location of the painting?

We could do something like that. I'm just opening up for ideas right now. And yeah, I'd like to have a big turnabout type event at the end.

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Well A good original idea would be to have the audience make an initial vote then send the person to a court, have the actors become lawyers and the audience becomes a jury. THen you could mimic PW greatly.

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