Daily Republic

Troupe specializes in interactive murder mysteries

By Matt Peiken

SUISUN CITY -- Wherever Janet Rudolph goes, mysterious deaths follow.

"That's one thing you can be sure of -- someone will die. Sometimes two or more people die," she said. "But the rest of it changes; the circumstances and settings are always different. They're classic who-dunnits."

Rudolph's traveling mystery dinner-theater troupe, Murder on the Menu, turns the clock back to the 1930s for "Murder on the Western Railway Museum." The group's first public performance in upper Solano County is 6 p.m. Saturday at the Western Railway Museum, on Highway 12 east of Suisun City.

"I've written a story about someone who's already dead," said Rudolph, who writes and directs each production for the theatrical company she formed 10 years ago. "This was his private car and it was attached to the Orient Express. He fell off the back -- an accident, so sad."

Actors will dine, converse and roam the train as average travelers. People will split into teams, each armed with an interactive clue.

"People aren't going to be seated watching a show," Rudolph said. "There's a parlor car, a sleeper car and a mail car. There will be a lot of movement."

As mystery, murder and mayhem unfold, the keen eye should be able to narrow its way down to the guilty party, she said.

"You can't get too obscure or intricate with the plot. All the clues will be in place. So if someone's paying attention, they can solve the mystery," Rudolph said.

"But people will be eating and drinking, talking and walking from car to car. They're bound to miss something. But maybe someone else in their team will have noticed what they've missed, so they can combine their wits."

Rudolph's elastic company of professional actors performs primarily at corporate events, but emerges for public shows in a range of settings -- from yachts and mansions to historic hotels. Wineries throughout Napa and Sonoma are also common backdrops for the group, which has performed in the Caribbean and throughout the United States.

The group recently performed for Ford Motor Co., which was introducing a new line of cars, at the Bodega Bay schoolhouse where "The Birds" was filmed.

Rudolph, who lives in Oakland, customizes each story for the event and group her company is performing for.

"My mystery events are different because I pay a lot of attention to the mystery, itself," said Rudolph, who wrote her doctorate dissertation on religious mystery fiction.

"The interaction is important. People get the chance to be someone else for a day. It's a mystery, a puzzle, and people love to be the sleuth and see justice done. And they get to act, which people love to do."

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