Driving to my destination, a downtown Columbus restaurant, I had to chuckle as I said out loud to no one, “It was a dark and stormy night.” That oft-parodied opening gambit from English writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1830 novel “Paul Clifford” seemed to fit the occasion, for I was headed to a murder mystery dinner. Beyond the car windows, night was falling. Although admittedly not “stormy,” it was raining, and there was definitely a storm involved here: Hurricane Irma had driven the murder mystery improv actors I was about to meet from their homes in Savannah, Georgia, to Columbus, to wait it out.
“That storm was so crazy,” actor Chris Soucy would say later that evening. “It kept pushing more west and kept pushing toward the middle of Georgia, and we’re right on the coast.” Prospects of being without power or emergency services made the decision to leave an easy one, he added. “We wanted to get out of the coast entirely.”
Soucy and his fiance are partners with Patrick “Trick” Kelly and his wife in Odd Lot Improv, voted “Best Comedy Team” by readers of Connect Savannah in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
“Savannah is always vulnerable; it’s lowland coastal area,” said Kelly, whose memory of Hurricane Matthew last October is still fresh. The two families evacuated together for that, too. (“We’re evacuation buddies,” Soucy said.)
Even as Irma’s track wobbled on the map, Mississippi looked safe, and Kelly had a Columbus aunt and cousin he’d not seen for several years — Mary Broussard and her daughter, Beth Broussard Rogers. So it came to pass that Kelly, his wife Tara, daughter Harmony, 18, and son Skyler, 15, along with Soucy and his daughter Lillian, 14, (plus two dogs) arrived in the Golden Triangle Sept. 9. Once the Kellys and Soucys knew their Savannah homes were not in harm’s way, they decided to leave behind a few smiles in Columbus before they left their shelter city. They offered to do a show.
Getting in on the act
“Hello and welcome to an evening of murder and mayhem and good food!” Soucy announced, entering a room of mystery dinner diners at J. Broussard’s restaurant Tuesday evening. His stage-veteran voice and energy had all eyes riveted. There would be a “murder” this night, and the diners would help solve it. As Soucy introduced himself and the other three performers — Trick, Harmony and Lillian — he told the room, “You have the opportunity to give us our (fictional) names, our occupations and one strange habit for each character.”
Diners called out suggestions, producing in the end a cast that included Opie Johnson (Trick), a mechanic who chews his fingernails; Ginsey Tonic (Lillian), an elementary school teacher who continually clears her throat; and Harley Camp (Harmony), a customer service rep afraid of the color blue.
The audience gave the unseen “victim” the name Harvey Irma, a thumb in the eye to the recent hurricanes. Soucy would be the detective. Diners named his character Rob Dough and gave him the strange habit of being an “accent chameleon.”
With their new identities, the Odd Lot actors left the room to get into character and don a few costume items, some of which they’d picked up at the local Palmer Home Thrift Store. Then, somewhere between the fresh-baked bread and first course salad, the game was afoot.
The plot unfolds
“I’m Detective Rob Dough of the CPD,” Soucy boomed, striding back into the dining room in a fedora and tie. Harvey Irma, he informed listeners, had been found conked on the head with a blunt object. As Soucy’s voice morphed from Scottish brogue to Southern drawl to British droll to Brooklyn tough, the ensuing scenes were part campy clue-drop, part tomfoolery, and all lighthearted. Before the denouement, the final scene, Detective Dough asked diners to help solve the crime by writing their deductions on cards already on their tables — who was the murderer, and why?
In the final confrontation, Harley Camp was exposed as the perpetrator, a fact that dinner guest Amy Ellis had deduced on her card, complete with a solid case for motive. For her clever detecting, she received a gift card to J. Broussard’s, and the rest of the diners enjoyed a unique evening out.
Reunion
After the show, the actors reflected a bit on their time in Columbus; they would be returning to Georgia the next morning.
“Visiting with family members that you love but have not seen in years was more than enough to make the trip worthwhile,” said Kelly, whose reunion with his aunt and cousin was a joyous one. It brought emotions to the surface for Mary Broussard, Kelly’s aunt, especially as she watched her nephew and the others behind the scenes Tuesday, getting into character and hurriedly tossing around plot ideas.
“I used to see him perform all the time in the French Quarter,” said Broussard, who used to live in New Orleans. “I haven’t seen him in years, and it gets me choked up. They used to spend all the holidays at my house.”
Her daughter, Beth Rogers, J. Broussard’s chef, agreed. “It was very emotional seeing them again after so long. I cried when I found out they were coming. I would have been worried, but they evacuated early. All I could be was happy. And once we were all together again, it was like we had never been apart.”
By now, the Kellys and Soucys are back in Savannah, resuming their weekly improv shows and other projects. Performing is in their veins. Kelly is even a veteran of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Clown College. Soucy is cofounder of Savannah Shakes (a Shakespeare performance company) and was theater specialist for Savannah’s Culture Arts Theater. They’re glad to be home, but also anticipate returning to northeast Mississippi one day, without a hurricane chasing them.
“Columbus is a lovely town,” Soucy said. “And we ate like kings!”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.