The Greenville community is being treated to dinner and a show, with a side of murder for dessert, as the Greenville Community Theatre holds auditions for its upcoming new production, “A Mystery Dinner Theater,” this fall.

Auditions are slated for Monday, September 16 at the Camellia City Bakery.

The Camellia City Bakery is opening its Camellia Room, which seats roughly 50-65 people, and the additional space will be used for a makeshift stage.
“We decided we wanted to do a dinner theater because it’s a great way to get the community involved,” said Greenville Community Theatre president Mollie Waters.

“Also, dinner theater allows for more intimacy between the performers and the audience, and it gives the audience an opportunity to feel like they are part of the show.”

The show itself will be composed of two acts, each with it’s own set of characters and situations.

For each act, one of the characters will meet an untimely end, leaving the remaining cast with plenty of motive for doing the deed.

The audience will be given clues in the form of police interviews to solve the case as it unfolds.

Everyone in the audience will become an active participant in the cases, and will be provided clue sheets to keep track of information in order to reveal the murderer.

Based on their powers of deduction and reasoning skills, audience members who guess correctly in the show’s “resolve” stage will win a small prize.

The auditions will be cold readings from the script, with approximately 12-15 parts available for males and females 16 years of age and older.

Waters said that after the last GCT production, several people expressed interest in roles.

This time, however, virtually anyone can audition and potentially receive a part.

“What we’re looking for is always someone who enjoys performing in a theatrical setting,” Waters added. “But the great thing about the (roles) we have picked is that the ages are open, and there’s really an equal number of males and females.  It gives more people a chance that have expressed interest, and we just want people who want to be a part of something fun.”

Auditions are slated for 5:30 p.m.