subject: Interactive Murder Mystery Thrives In Los Angeles [print this page] Eric Howell Sharp and Nora Jean Sharp are often asked by their fans, "Who created the concept of interactive murder mystery theater?" They quickly admit (confess) that they certainly did not create the concept, which by all indications, is as old as the idea of playing "cops and robbers". Eric's been solving "fake" murders since 1989 and Nora partnered up with him in 2004.
It would seem that murder mystery weekends as entertainment were organized and professionally produced as early as 1981 (if not earlier) when Joy Swift from Liverpool began hosting them throughout England. A quick Google search offers groups all across the internet claiming they invented audience participation murder mystery events. It seems that Ms. Swift brought her productions to the U.S. in 1983. By 1986 groups in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago spawned a whole new industry of audience participation theater.
Eric and Nora say that the idea of theater as a game (as well as a show) has been around since storytellers first sat around the campfire. Evidently, Mock weddings were a Catskills vacation tradition long before Tony and Tina's Wedding became the long enduring national sensation it has become.
The writing team has created a new interactive, audience participation show that is quickly becoming a sensation in LA: Dinner Court. The show is a mock murder trial that takes place over dinner! It currently plays on select dates at the 94th Aero Squadron in Van Nuys.
Nora and Eric are also collaborating with Janice Fischer who wrote the fantastic 1980s vampire movie, 'The Lost Boys' for Warner Brothers. Janice is re-working an early Sharpo murder mystery script to adapt it for upcoming murder mystery parties and dinner theater events in Los Angeles.
