PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: 7/30/2021

Contact: Andrew Rothman
From: Chagrin Valley Little Theatre

40 River Street
Chagrin Falls, OH 44122
Phone: 440-247-8955
E-mail: cvlt@cvlt.org
Website: www.CVLT.org

Chagrin Valley Little Theatre offers innovative online mystery game to launch 92nd Season

CHAGRIN FALLS, OH - The Chagrin Valley Little Theatre will kick off it’s 92nd season this September with an unprecedented and experimental web-based fundraiser. Murder by the Falls: “Nursery Crimes” is an online event set for Friday, September 10, wrapping up with a reception / season kickoff party on Saturday, September 11. Admission to the online game is $35, with optional $20 admission to the Saturday night reception.

Murder by the Falls has served as the venerable non-profit’s major fundraising event for a few decades. The format usually consists of an original two-act murder mystery / comedy paired with drinks, food, and a hunt through the shop windows of downtown Chagrin Falls to look for planted clues, including the interrogation of on-the-street characters. The pandemic led to the cancellation of this popular event for the first time in many years last fall.

When it came time to plan ahead for the 2021 edition, the unpredictability of public health guidelines and questions about audience comfort with close quarters left the event’s status uncertain. Given the participatory nature of the usual Murder by the Falls format, including mingling with strangers and crowding around shop windows, it seemed like the show might not go on.

However, brother and sister team Andrew and Greta Rothman rose to the challenge, offering to concoct an online version of the game. Combining their experience as writers/producers for nine previous Murder by the Falls shows with Andrew’s technical skills as a computer and audio-visual professional, the duo have created an ambitious, one-of-a-kind mix of theater and gameplay.

Their original story, "Nursery Crimes", involves nursery-rhyme-inspired characters living in modern day Chagrin Falls. Many of these characters have a reason to dislike Humperdinck T. Dumpty, who is the co-founding Editor in Chief of “The Nursery Times” newspaper and the victim in the tale.

On the evening of September 10 at 7 PM EST, registered players will be emailed a PDF containing clippings from the fictional “Nursery Times”. Within these pages will be a dozen keywords for the audience to find - some hidden in obvious ways and others far less conspicuous. Once a secret word has been found, the player will enter it into a box on the provided web page to unlock a recorded scene featuring characters tied to the plot, including security camera footage, private Zoom meetings, recorded phone calls, and so on.

Having revealed the clips, participants will submit a form explaining who they think killed “Hump” T. Dumpty, how they did it, and what their motive was. The game officially ends at 12 PM EST on Saturday. The first player or team to submit the correct (or closest to correct) solution will receive a cash grand prize, in an amount determined by the overall number of tickets sold. Tickets to shows in CVLT’s 92nd Season will also be given away as additional prizes.

“It’s been like writing and directing an independent film while simultaneously publishing a newspaper and creating an online escape room game,” says Mr. Rothman of the challenging production. “There are about fifty pages of script and twenty-five actors recorded in multiple locations. It’s elaborate almost to the point of absurdity, but we still managed to work in some of our trademark awful puns! And since it’s online, we have no limit on how many people can attend, so we hope it goes a long way toward getting CVLT back on its feet post-COVID.”

CVLT will use money generated by Murder by the Falls to fund the plays and musicals scheduled to run in its 2021-22 season, beginning with Jeffrey Hatcher’s Holmes & Watson on September 17th.

Tickets for Murder by the Falls and all other CVLT productions can be purchased online at CVLT.org or via the Box Office at (440) 247-8955.

Chagrin Valley Little Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded through individual and corporate contributions. Our programming is made possible in part by the citizens of Cuyahoga Country through Cuyahoga County Arts and Culture and by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.

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