34WEST Dinner-theater mystery lighthearted and lively

The cast includes the audience in a variety of ways.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
WILMOT -- "Radio Theatre Mysteries," part of 34west Theater Company's series of dinner-theater mysteries written by artistic director Stephen Baldwin of Boardman, opened Thursday at Amish Door Restaurant.
The production will move to Columbiana next weekend.
If you are expecting a great artistic presentation or complicated crime scene to solve, this isn't it. What this is, however, is light and lively entertainment, a perfect way for friends and family to get together, eat, visit and enjoy audience participation with the entertainers. It is more of a skit than a play and doesn't distract people who wish to enjoy the social benefits of restaurant dining. It is fun, comical and well organized. The small group of diners seemed eager to go along with the game.
The plot
It is set in a radio theater in the 1940s, during its weekly suspenseful broadcast of "The Shadow's Nose" (which can smell evil in the hearts of men). In this week's program, sponsored by Blisterine, Johnstone and Turnquist are traveling to Rocky Mountain Lodge when they almost hit a vagrant. Could it be the person who just robbed the bank?
Among the funniest parts of this presentation were the sound effects during the "broadcast," which included thunder, a babbling brook and a walk across a rickety footbridge and into high grass. Another clever addition was inclusion of the audience. Every time it heard certain lines, it responded a certain way, with "ha ha ha" or "boo, hiss."
But the broadcast is interrupted again and again by things that keep going wrong. Someone is trying to sabotage the radio station, and everybody has a motive. Detective Perry Columbus (Stephen Baldwin), of the Buffalo Police Force is called in, kind of a Maxwell Smart kind of guy. He needs the audience to help him solve the crime.
Search for suspect
At this point, everyone has finished eating, so all get to "interview" each of the suspects. There are four criteria that need to be met to find the guilty person.
There is Barbitua Stormclott (Rebecca Whittenberger), the station manager who has some questionable dealings with a Swiss bank account and who is also in charge of handling the station's money. Jack Altrayde (Steve Scott) is in love with her. He does the sound effects at the station and knows a lot about electricity. Sir Drake Cula (Jeffrey Querin), a washed-up British actor, committed last year's murder. He is stuck at the station for seven years because he is on parole. Shirley Dimples (Tiffany McMillan) was a child star and wants to open her own cabaret, but she can't leave because she is under contract with the station. And Dotty Ditzy (Janet Cantelupe) hates her sister Barbitua, is in love with Jack and would like to see the place go up in flames.
After the interview session, everyone returns to the tables for dessert and for the true identity of the criminal to be revealed. Everybody votes, and both the winning and losing tables receive prizes.
This is a clever and creative little play, and the audience seemed to have a good time.
The show will run again Friday and Oct. 29 at Das Dutch Village Inn on state Route 14 in Columbiana. Seating begins at 6:45 p.m., and serving begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $40 per person, with group discounts available. Call (866) 482-5050 for reservations.