Murder, made to order

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The Haven't God a Clue Murder Mystery Troupe is shown at a recent performance of the "Hillbilly Wedding" at the Orak Shrine Center in Michigan City, Ind. The group has performed "made-to-order" murder mysteries throughout the area. | Photo Provided

Updated: February 19, 2012 8:07AM

Four years ago this month, Rip and Bonnie Johnson of Dyer started a community theater in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Hammond. Since then Beatniks on Conkey has provided an outlet for theater-minded people to create and view art of many types.

But the Johnsons also take their theater on the road, performing murder mysteries at locations around the region since 2003. Recently, their Haven’t Got a Clue Murder Mystery Troupe performed “Hillbilly Wedding” at the Orak Shrine Center in Michigan City.

“The ‘Hillbilly Wedding’ is a wonderful interactive murder mystery about white trash and the wedding day for BillyJoe Nabob and Taffy Puddin,’ ” said Rip Johnson. “The father of the groom is accused of putting the father of the bride in jail, when the real father of the groom shows up and spoils everything. A shot is fired and someone dies, then the fun starts.”

Johnson said his drama troupe performs several different murder mysteries upon request, including those with themes such as “high school reunion,” “golf pro,” and “wise guys,” and can also customize a murder mystery for special occasions.

“We have performed from White Hawk Country Club in Crown Point to Great Oaks Banquets in Cedar Lake, to a country club in Peoria” he said. “Performing for the Shriners at Orak was of special significance to Bonnie and me, as I am a proud Shriner and a member of Orak.”

In fact, it was a performance for the Michigan City Shrine in the early 2000s that got their troupe started.

“I was chairman of the fundraising committee for Richard J. Elman, who ran for Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of Indiana in 2004-05,” he said. “We formed a group and put on a scripted murder mystery called ‘Dedicated to the End.’ It was a great hit and led to the formation of Haven’t Got a Clue Murder Mystery Troupe.”

Johnson said they have been writing and performing murder mysteries ever since. The group originally consisted of Rip and Bonnie, Kim Bernstein, Don Taylor and Angie Lowe, all well-known thespians in the region.

“Linda Slankard and Steve Kaminsky joined us soon after, and through the years we have had many actors step in and take roles in the many murder mysteries we have performed,” he said. “The Hillbilly Wedding performance included one of our newest members, Christine Murphy, and one of our first cast members, Michael ‘Doc’ Kuhn.”

The Johnsons produced and directed the recent performance as a Beatniks production. They have also performed their murder mysteries at the Beatniks location and will continue to do so in the future, he said.

“Haven’t Got a Clue is an experienced troupe of actors with about 350 years of combined experience in theater, and a few years in business,” Johnson said. “We may not have a clue, but we sure are funny.”

Don Taylor of Hammond has been with Beatniks from its beginning and has been acting personally in the region for nearly 40 years. He plays Cheaterdumplins in “Hillbilly Wedding,” a friend and country western recording star.

“Since I am the only musician,” Taylor said, “I write musical parodies and provide entertainment while the people eat. In the other murder mysteries that we do I am usually the person that gets killed then returns as the detective who solves the murder.”

Taylor said the actors have all been friends and worked together for years. They specialize in made-to-order murder mysteries and will customize to meet a group’s needs, he said.

“We are lots of fun and, because we write (the script) ourselves, we can include anyone who wants to play along, which gets the audience more involved. I have seen the audiences growing over the years and it’s not unusual to have sold-out crowds now. With the variation of the types of shows we do, we are like no other theater company in the area,” he said. “We have comedy troupes, musicians, magic shows, open mikes, and who knows what else may come down the line.”