Auditions for Friends of the Metro Parks in Lorain County annual murder mystery show Jan. 16

The annual Murder Mystery dinner and show, hosted by Friends of the Metro Parks in Lorain County, will return this spring and auditions will take place at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Carlisle Visitor’s Center, 12882 Diagonal Road in Lagrange.

This year’s production, “Murder … Country Style,” written by Eileen Moushey, a freelance writer and director, follows a family of country singers when tragedy strikes, according to Barb Fieger, president of the Friends of the Metro Parks of Lorain County and director of the Murder Mystery production.

“It’s about a family of country singers getting ready to perform a show and, you know, stuff happens,” Fieger said. “We pick a different script every year.”

Acting experience is not required to audition, she said.

Actors will read a cold reading from the script during auditions, Fieger said.

For this show specifically, all actors must be 18 years or older, she said.

“No experience necessary,” Fieger said. “A lot of years, we get somebody with no experience.”

After auditions, rehearsals for the show will take place all the way until the first show, she said.

The event will consist of a dinner provided by Sterk’s Catering of Oberlin, followed by the show, Fieger said.

Audience members will be able to interact by trying to solve the mystery, she said.

“The patrons of the show then have to look at some clues and try and decide who done it,” Fieger said. “People like the challenge of trying to figure out who done it, looking at some clues and trying to figure out who the actual murderer was.”

Every year, the show has multiple dates taking place the last weekend in April and the first weekend of May, she said.

“This is probably our 19th year of doing this,” Fieger said. “We came up with this, and since then, we’ve done it every year.”

Tickets go on sale Feb. 15, with the first show April 26, she said.

When suggestions came in for a murder mystery-style show, Fieger said the group decided to not only help financially support the Lorain County Metro Parks, but to also allow community members to volunteer in the acting of the event.

“It’s all volunteer; everybody’s a volunteer,” she said. “It gives people in the community the opportunity to be entertained, and have a nice evening out and still support the Metro Parks in a really fun way.”

Since 1986, Friends of the Metro Parks has supported through “man power” and monetary donations to the parks in Lorain County, according to Fieger.

To get more information or an alternate audition time, call 216-544-3865.