Set Sail for Adams Mystery Playhouse and Murder on Pirate Island

Since 2006, the eccentric mansion at 2406 Federal Boulevard has housed the Adams Mystery Playhouse. After years as a nomadic group operating out of rented spaces, co-owners Carlos and Marne Wills-Cuellar bought the historic structure to house their renowned Death for Dinner murder-mystery dinner theater performances.

"What we do is a little bit different," says Nick Guida, a longtime actor, director and writer for the company. "The process here is not normally how you would think of theater. Normally, there’s an audition, your cast rehearses for God knows how long, and then there’s a little run of the show. And — unless theater has changed substantially since I was working in it thirty years ago — you don’t make any money. It’s kind of the opposite here; when actors do a show with us, they’re actually going to make money that night from doing the show. This is not a nonprofit organization. We don’t work on grants or government funding; we are a money-making business." 

The company has thrived in its location for the past seventeen years by producing public performances several days a week, such as the upcoming Murder on Pirate Island, as well as private performances for events like corporate gatherings and holiday parties and through its touring company, which performs shows from the group's repertoire across the nation. 

"Weekly, I'd estimate that we see at least 400 to 600 people pass through the building," Marne says. Through its years of mystery-making, the theater has been able to hone its craft and perfect the storytelling structure that draws audiences in.

"We start with serving food and walking around the audience to establish our characters," Marne says. "Carlos and I greet the crowd and make announcements before the opening scene happens. After the death, we take a break and return with some bits of entertainment as well as the entrance of an investigator who tries to piece the whole story together. During the dessert break, we split the tables up into teams and pick who the murderer is before we come together to vote and reveal the killer in the final scene."

The Wills-Cuellars have been perfecting this formula since Death for Dinner began touring shows for businesses, churches, schools and even abroad at the Department of Defense's American military shows in 1990. Their private performances were so successful, the company began performing publicly in 1992.

In order to keep up with their ever-expanding audience's demand for new material, Guida and Marne, who trade off writing responsibilities, use the company's signature structure to develop new mysteries in unique time periods with eccentric characters.

"When I first joined, we weren't doing nearly as many public performances," Guida says. "Before, we were just doing one-off shows, and there was no regularity to it. People had more opportunities to see one of our shows once we bought this location and began doing weekly public performances. We've been creating new shows nonstop since we moved into this location because of repeat customers."

And after more than thirty years of creating mysteries, the writers agree that the ending is what distinguishes a good mystery from a great one. One of Guida's favorite parts of the evening is the audience voting on who they think the murderer is before the grand reveal.

"For the most part — and I don’t know if it's from people not paying attention or trying to be funny — but we get a range of responses," says Guida. "I guess it's like that whole eyewitness thing you hear about in true crime, where witness testimony is not that reliable because you could have five people who see the same crime and they all have seen a slightly different version of it. And, of course, people are here to have fun and might be drinking, so that might affect their votes, too, but I always love hearing the different details that the audience picks up; that's only possible because we take the mysteries themselves very seriously."

Up next is Murder on Pirate Island, which invites audiences to set sail on the high seas with a gang of pirates who are searching for the lost treasure of La Buse. 

"This show is about Calico Jack Tremain, who says he’s solved the cryptogram that leads to the treasure but is murdered," says Guida, who wrote the show's script. "The crime the audience is trying to solve is which of the crew — Shanghai Ned Brisco, Frankie Five Angels, Taffy Leinenkugel or Sadie the washerwoman — killed him to get the treasure. I don’t want to give too much away, but they each have their motives."

Audience members are encouraged to wear pirate-themed apparel to the show, as they will be invited to participate in a costume parade and get in on the action. Adam Mystery Playhouse produced its first pirate-themed show fourteen years ago, using the same story as its current production, but a different title.

"When we decided to write another pirate show a few years ago, we called it The Curse of Pirate Island," Guida says. "The Curse of Pirate Island told the same story we're telling now, but we learned then that if a show's title doesn't include the word 'murder,' it doesn't sell. That's why, when we did it this time, we changed the title to Murder on Pirate Island."

Although the characters in the show are made up, the location and the treasure the pirates are looking for are real. "Pirate islands were real places where pirates would all go and hang out," Guida explains. "And while the characters aren't necessarily based on a single pirate, they are based on a variety of pirate personalities."

The specificity of Guida's writing makes it easy for the Adams Mystery Playhouse rotating cast of actors to quickly jump into the show's swashbuckling setting.

"Nick's writing really gets into the fun historical facts of the era," Marne says. "He dives into all the juicy facts about what pirates did and what drove them emotionally. What I like about how Nick writes is that, underneath the comedy, there is a concrete story that moves the action forward. I've been to some other murder-mystery companies around town that I won't mention by name, but their shows are just totally goofball fests with very little story. [Here] you'll still see a lot of improv, but at the end of the day, there is a tightly crafted narrative that has some meat to it."

Murder on Pirate Island, Friday, June 2, through Saturday, August 5, Adams Mystery Playhouse, 2406 Federal Boulevard. Find tickets, times and more information at adamsmysteryplayhouse.com.