By Laura Acuff, Opinion Editor
Spring brings blossoming flowers, warmer weather and hordes of presidential scholarship hopefuls traipsing across campus in high heels and blazers.
In an effort to attract promising students, the Honors College now includes a mystery murder dinner as part of the high school students’ preview weekend.
“We were thinking about the Presidential Scholars coming to campus and trying to think of something that represented who we were and the type of stuff we do,” said Bethany Scroggins, Honors College freshman advisor and events programmer.
The mystery dinner, which begins at 4:30 p.m. after scholars have attended an informational session about the Honors College and a demonstrational honors class, features a meal periodically interrupted with scenes of the murder investigation of a rich businessman. The audience follows the developments as a detective interviews suspects including the businessman’s daughter, business partner and young wife.
Towards the end of the meal, audience members may fill out cards, guessing which character is the murderer. After the final scene reveals the killer, viewers who guessed correctly each receive a bottle of Dublin Dr. Pepper as a reward.
Although she guessed incorrectly, presidential scholarship applicant and high school senior Kelli Ingram, from Los Alamos, N.M., said she enjoyed the dinner Monday and would recommend it to other visiting prospective students.
“I liked that they were willing to step out of doing the normal courses through theater and welcome us,” Ingram said. “You got to see some of the students in action.”
Featuring only honors students as the production’s actors and actresses, Dr. Chris Willerton, Dean of Honors College and professor of English, said the mystery dinner showcases the diversity of students in the Honors College.
“The stereotype we’re fighting against is that honors students are study nerds, and this is evidence to the contrary,” Willerton said. “They are fun people. They are versatile. They take risks. They do anything anyone else does.”
Honors students were invited to audition for parts before Christmas break. Out of the 17 who auditioned, only five were chosen, Scroggins said. Those five began learning lines over Christmas and started rehearsals after returning for the spring semester.
Ben Miller, freshman physics major from the Woodlands, played one of the suspects in the production. He said after participating in musical theater in high school, acting in the mystery dinner sounded enjoyable. Miller also said he believed the production positively represented the Honors College.
“I think it makes us look like fun, you know, makes it look like something cool, something you can have fun in and something that opens up new opportunities,” Miller said. “I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do this had I not been in the Honors College.”
Murder mystery dinner director Amy Simpson, administrative coordinator for the Department of Theatre and ACU alumnus, also said she appreciated the perspective the performance awards prospective students of the Honors College. By utilizing the skills of student actors, actresses and honors student playwright Sara Morris, sophomore art major from Abilene, Simpson believes it highlights especially well the creativity of the college.
“They think outside the box a lot,” Simpson said. “The professors, the dean, even the administrative coordinator, they look for interesting ways to do things. They’re excited about finding solutions and ways to learn and explore the world that are different than might normally be thought of, and so the murder mystery is obviously sort of an artistic presentation, but it also is fun.”
As part of the panel evaluating acting auditions, Simpson said she was surprised by the acting skills of the auditioning students.
“We were all really impressed and, frankly, a little surprised at the amount of talent that we saw at the auditions,” Simpson said. “This was a really excited group of students who were ready to do what they needed to do.”
Although the Honors College has presented mystery dinners in the past, Scroggins said this is the first year for such a production to be presented multiple times a semester to prospective students. With a performance lined up for each presidential scholar preview day, the student actors and actresses will perform a total of five shows this semester.
“They’re very energetic, vivacious people, so they like doing this sort of thing,” Scroggins said. “We are happy to let them exhibit that side of their personality that they might not otherwise get to use.”
While Willerton said the actors and actresses receive a modest salary, money is not their motivation.
“They’re not in it for the money,” Willerton said. “They’re in it for the gusto. They’re gusto people.”
The murder mystery dinners are designed specifically with presidential scholarship applicants in mind, but anyone is welcome to attend. Tickets maybe purchased in the Honors College office in Room 217 of the Administration Building anytime or in the Campus Center after Chapel.
