Our first cast was great!  Frank Minor, Flora DeCastri, Terry Lee Adams, Eric O’Brien, Mark Wells, and, of course, Ronald Blankenship. What a bunch of troopers.  They took our wacky form of theater and ran with it.  We considered casting a young actor named Harry Kollatz, Jr, but he decided to take himself out of consideration because he’d just been offered a new job at Richmond Magazine. Our actors have become like family, and as in any family, we have sadly lost members over the years.  Paige Keinel, Carlton Candler, and Mary Sue Carroll, all left us too soon, and are missed terribly.

There were several other theaters in Richmond that formed in 1993, including The Firehouse Theater Project (there’s Harry again) and The Triangle Players.   We were fortunate enough to hook up with these companies, and others such as The Barksdale and Theatre IV, to help form the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theaters (RAPT).  It helped us integrate into the local theater community, and form friendships that are still strong 17 years later.

Sometime around 1995, I came home one day and Laura said, “We had a woman call and asked if we could do a medieval show, and I told them you’d write one.”  So since that time I’ve been writing our shows.  I have about 30 shows in my catalogue, and have been licensing the performance rights to groups all over the country.  You can currently see “Frankly Scarlet, You’re Dead” at the Great Smoky Mountain Mystery Dinner Show, and “Marriage Can Be Murder!” at the Savannah Murder Mystery Dinner Theater, in Savannah Georgia.

In 1998 we expanded to Williamsburg in what is now the Clarion Inn and Suites. 1999 found us opening at the DoubleTree in Virginia Beach, and six years down the road, we opened a location in Northern Virginia, finally settling into the Sheraton Crystal City.

Laura often points out that running a business is sort of like raising a child.  Like a child, we’re amazed at how it’s changed, and grown. And despite the grey hairs it has caused, we still love it.

Jim Daab

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Laura Daab

888-471-4802

info@mysterydinner.com

April 21, 2010

MYSTERY DINNER PLAYHOUSE JOINS STATEWIDE ARTS CELEBRATION

as part of

MINDS WIDE OPEN: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts

RICHMOND, VA – Mystery Dinner Playhouse has scheduled four shows at our locations in Richmond, Williamsburg, Virginia Beach and Arlington as part of Virginia’s 2010 statewide celebration featuring women in the arts.

MINDS WIDE OPEN: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts will include thousands of special events and programs offered between March and June of 2010. Events include plays, choreography, compositions, and exhibitions of paintings, photography or films that have been created by women or feature women as the primary focus. This celebration is an unprecedented collaboration of hundreds of participating artists and cultural organizations and is a demonstration of the breadth and diversity of arts and culture across the Commonwealth. It is the first of what the cultural community hopes will be an ongoing series of statewide collaborations shedding light on topics of interest to the people of Virginia.

Mystery Dinner Playhouse’s performances of Frankly Scarlett, You’re Dead (Richmond), Fashion to Die For! (Williamsburg), Let’s Host a Murder (Virginia Beach), and Murder, Las Vegas Style (Arlington) will feature work by nine actresses in various lead roles and two women directors.

MDP is owned and operated by Jim and Laura Daab.  Laura said, “Being a woman theatrical producer, I’m really pleased that the Commonwealth’s Arts community is recognizing women’s contribution to our cultural heritage.”  She added, “For me, that means celebrating not only the creative work of woman artists, but the behind-the-scene contributions of women administrators and producers who are vital to the existence of their respective organizations.”

Now in it’s 17^th year, Mystery Dinner Playhouse is a for-profit dinner theater that produces comedy murder mystery dinner shows performing weekly, year round  at it’s four Virginia locations in Richmond, Williamsburg, Virginia Beach and Arlington.  Audience members try to solve a comedy crime during a four-course dinner.  The dinner is served by a zany cast of suspects who all the while are providing clues to help reveal the evening’s guilty one.  For more information and reservations call 888-471-4802 or visit their website at www.mysterydinner.com

For a list of events and more information about MINDS WIDE OPEN: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts, visit www.vamindswideopen.com.

###

#1

#2

#3

Just email us at info@mysterydinner.com and let us know which design you like best.

Thanks,

Laura

We’ve added a lot of new features that should make browsing our site quick, easier and more fun.

Calendar of show schedule:
You can now go into our pop-up calendar for a quick look at show dates, times and locations. It also has a link to our online ticketing service.

Photo Gallery/Video:
Now you can view a huge collection of our show photos from past to present. There is also a nifty slide show feature. Keep on the look-out for our video feature.

Facebook & Social media:
You can now subscribe and share on our Facebook page along with all the other latest social networking sites. Please sign up to be our fans!  Bookmarking our website and social pages are a breeze.

Our blog:
We’ll give you updates on what we’re doing, including our latest shows, info about our actors, and the mystery biz in general. Share your comments, suggestions and experiences with us. We’d love for you to join the conversation.

Search feature:
Our new search feature makes it easier for you to find what you are looking for. Just enter a keyword or phrase a list of where you can find that info will appear.

Ecards:
Send an ecard to family, friends and co-workers. It’s a fun way to organize a night out with us.

Content & Navigation:
We’ve organized our content so that it is easier to read and more accessible. We’ve reorganized our navigation to make it more intuitive, so you spend less time clicking in and out of pages.

The Design:
Finally, I would like to thank Nate Yungkans for designing our fabulous new site. If you are in need of a site redesign or any other website related service, contact Nate and his company at:

Nate Yungkans
Heroic Dreams Graphic Design LLC
nate@heroicdreams.com
703-349-7186
Fax: 703-822-5430
http://www.heroicdreams.com

We’re very pleased to offer you better online service, and hope to see you at our shows very soon!

Laura Daab, Producer