Last chance to experience cold blooded murder!
St. Maarten Daily Herald
Whereas the company of talented actors, writers and crew does not like to be called the largest murder mystery production in the business, they have absolutely no problem being referred to as “Canada’s Best Murder Mystery Group.”
Friday is your last chance to experioence a great murder mystery dinner at the Casino Royale Theatre with the BigTime Murder Production group. The theme of tomorrow’s show is “Hari Karaoke” and after the blood-chilling, bone-cracking performance of this show on Tuesday, person who are heading to the show are in for a treat.
BigTime has been in the murder mystery business for the past ten years, celebrating its tenth anniversary in February. According to Peter Dillon, company presidnet, coming to Sint Maarten is a birthday performance of some sorts.
Whereas the company of talented actors, writers and crew does not like to be called the largest murder mystery production in the business, they have absolutely no problem being referred to as “Canada’s Best Murder Mystery Group.”
Performance are mainly done in North America, with Sint Maarten being the first time the group has performed out of their regular domain. Along with mystery dinners, BigTime also has a hilarious radio show setting performance that is very audience interactive, with persons being plucked out to fill parts for missing actors. Every attended a Hillybilly wedding? Well, BigTime has one of those too!
A number of corporate shows are done. The group is oftentimes contacted to put on a performance at conventioned. Such has been done for McDonald’s and the National Hockey League among others. Most of the work the production gets is from repeat business.
The material for the plays is mostly based on topical issues, with the actors working on a script idea together or an actor/writer developing one, which is completed through a team effort by the cast. “Silence of the Hams” (performed on Wednesday, sorry you missed it) is one of the scripts that pieces are added to after each performance.
This addition is largely due to actors doing improvising during the dinner. Actors Jamie Douglas and Derick Fage noted that Dillon is very supportive of the cast and allows a lot of creative freedom. The improvising done in this particular play, one of the most performed, is also a special test between the actors. All the actors try improvising to make Dillon, who plays the policeman, crack up laughing. If he does, the president has to buy the actor a beer.
The act is very interactive, say the three actors, “It’s clean entertainment that the kids can watch, although they might not understand all the innuendoes.”
In Hari Karaoke, Manny Wicke, the agent to the star, who is hosting the karaoke competition, is the setting for Friday’s dinner. Wicke is described by Fage as “an over-bearing, self-important person who always refers to himself in the third person. He also has his bias to some of the performance and is not afraid to name them.”
Sometimes during the acts the actors crack up laughing and if they enjoy it so much, imagine being part of the audience! Unexpected twists are in all the performances, in some there is a server who spills water on audience members because he sways back and forth as his last job was on a cruise ship. Some attendees at the past show complained to the management about the terrible server, says Dillon, and only then were they told that it was a member of the cast.
Urging Sint Maarten to attend tomorrow’s dinner, the president remakers, “It is hilariously interactive entertainment that is all about the audience. It’s comedy, dinner and entertainment rolled in one.”
No audience member is forced to take part in the interactive dinner, it is all done for laughs and if a member of the audience is very outgoing, who knows maube you will be made the star of the show!
Complimenting the Casino Royale Theatre, the actors are looking forward to working there, saying that the atmosphere is great for the shows being put on and presents great opportunities for dressing up thge place.
After the show, members of the cast will mingle with the attendees and will be available for pictures, autographs and chitchat.
Douglas is inviting “Saint Maarten to watch someone die and leave on a high.”
President of BigTime Productions
Professional Actor and Entrepreneur
Peter Dillon, BigTime’s founder and President-At-Large, is a Top Forty Under 40 award recipient and was named one of Ottawa Life Magazine’s Top 50 People. He has been a professional actor for close to 30 years and appeared in dozens of Films, Television shows, Radio / TV commercials, and 1000s of Comedically Interactive Dinner Theatre productions all over the world. Besides being a regular in Big Time’s incredibly popular Murder Mystery shows, Peter can be seen in TV shows Murdoch Mysteries, SUITS, Orphan Black, Saving Hope, Flashpoint, NIKITA, Degrassi The Next Generation, Hell on Wheels, Quantico, to name a few. Over the years he’s shared the screen with Ernest Borgnine, Denzel Washington, Ed O’Neil, Teri Garr, Angelina Jolie, Dan Aykroyd, Sandra Oh, and many others. In 2001, Dillon co-founded A.C.T. (Acting for Cinema and Television), a company that offers screen training courses, and does its part to introduce local performers to casting agents and producers. Learn more about Pete at PeteDillon.com.
CATEGORIES: Insider, Press
