It&rsquo\;s 1952\, and P. U. Barnhum&rsquo\;s world-famous three-ring circus has come to Podunk! The town is overwhelmed by the excitement\, the lights\, the animals\, and the&mdash\;dead body of the ringmaster. Yes\, there lies Rhett Coate\, shot to death right in the center ring. The circus owner\, P. U. Barnhum\, is in a tizzy. Was the murderer a fellow circus performer\, like Malcolm Laff the clown\, or the trapeze act Jess Fling/Ann Ketch? Was it one of the carnival attractions\, like Christa Bawle the fortuneteller or Isalotta Herr the bearded lady? Or maybe it was a member of the audience like Arlo Kell\, someone with cause to dread the reappearance of a Podunkian who ran off to join the circus&hellip\;But hold onto your popcorn&mdash\;the murderer may be YOU!

WANT TO PLAY AS A DETECTIVE?

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Unless you sign up to play as a suspect (visit page and scroll down)\, you'\;ll play as a detective. \;We encourage you to dress as though you'\;re going to the circus in 1952! \;You'\;ll get a list of questions to ask the suspects\, and the Detective will let you in on evidence discoveries--there will even be pieces of evidence for you to examine. Then\, after all the questions have been answered\, evidence presented and examined\, you can use your critical thinking skills to figure out who killed Rhett Coate.

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WANT TO PLAY AS A SUSPECT?

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HOW IT WORKS: \; After you purchase your ticket(s)\, return to LWA'\;s Murder Mystery Theatre page to click the '\;Sign up to play as a suspect button'\;. You'\;ll be taken to a Google Sheet where you can peruse the available characters and add your name to one that interests you. You do not have to stick with your preferred gender! When you commit on the form\, we'\;ll email a few more character details to your PayPal email address (you can make up more character details/backstory). \;We'\;d LOVE for you to dress the part! \;(CLICK HERE for Google images of 1950s circus performers) \;On the day before the event\, we'\;ll send you two different versions of short answers (Innocent and Guilty) to three questions (we'\;ll have these on note cards or in a booklet for you the night of the event\, as well) FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. You can memorize word for word\, but paraphrasing is absolutely fine as long as you get the important points. On the night of the event\, you'\;ll draw a slip of paper with either a number or an X on it--you'\;ll keep that utterly secret\, too. An X means you'\;re the murderer and you'\;ll answer questions with the Guilty versions. \;