Murder on Main Street, a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater event

Irmo, SC 0612/2024 - The vaudeville EXTRAVAGANZA is the hottest show at The Grand Theater on Columbia’s Main Street, and things get even hotter when the knife-thrower’s assistant stumbles out of the theater with a knife in her back.

Come help the Friends of the Irmo Branch Library solve the “Murder on Main Street”  at our annual Murder Mystery Dinner Theater Saturday, Aug. 3, at the River Center at Saluda Shoals Park. Tickets are on sale now!

Who could have wanted young Flo Conway, one of local madam Maude O’Riley’s girls -- who dreams of making it big as a vaudeville performer -- dead? Policeman Barney Brumby is convinced it’s the knife-thrower Marco the Magnificent, but Maude isn’t so sure. Could it have been philandering State Senator Hampton Huger, who is running for governor? His wife, Zinnia, who would do anything to become First Lady of South Carolina? Jilted ex-boyfriend Bill Brown?  The Rev. Obadiah Wright, who is known to hold long counselling sessions as he tries to reform the local ladies of the evening? Or the Marvelous Marvelline, the vaudeville magician who is jealous of Marco’s top billing?

“Murder on Main Street” is an original play written by Friends member Licia D. Jackson with an assist from C. Grant Jackson.

Attendees at this audience-participatory evening of fun, prizes and mystery will be entertained by local actors and other celebrities as Maude enlists audience members to help find the guilty party.

“The annual Friends of the Irmo Branch Library Murder Mystery Dinner is a highly anticipated event each year and we’re delighted to bring this original script set in Columbia to our audience,” said Friends of the Irmo Branch Library President C. Grant Jackson. “This is our tenth production, and last year’s production of ‘Murder on the Menu’ was a sellout.”

The event includes a buffet meal, beer and wine tickets, an optional costume contest – come dressed in period attire from 1910 – and fabulous door prizes. The Grand Prize will go to an audience member who solves the mystery. The evening starts at 6 p.m. and should end around 9:30 p.m. when the mystery is solved.

Tickets are $75 per person – priority seating available with a single purchase of a table for 8 -- and can be purchased online at https://IrmoLibraryFriends2024.eventbrite.com or in person at the Irmo Branch Library at 6251 St. Andrews Road. The event is for those 18 or older.

The Friends of the Irmo Branch Library is a 501c(3) non-profit that supports the library’s programming through financial assistance, volunteerism and community awareness.