There’s been a murder at the Conrad Mansion and Leah Lindsey is the only person who knows who did it.
“I don’t tell anyone – not even the actors,” said Lindsey, a local radio personality who also frequently directs plays throughout the valley. “I hold the secrets in my head.”
Area residents are challenged to crack Lindsey’s murder mystery at “Death by Chocolate VIII: Wild West Murder Mystery,” an annual fundraiser for Kalispell’s Conrad Mansion.
The dinner theater event is akin to a live version of the children’s board game, Clue. Event guests act as detectives to find the killer, motive and weapon. Important clues are placed throughout the mansion and the actors drop hints as they perform the mystery throughout the mansion.
The script is a hilarious spoof on every sort of Wild West cliché. Jack Daniels, a notorious gambler, and Lolly Pop, a famous Can-Can dancer, share the stage with Sheriff Dudley Domé and a flamboyant judge. There’s railroad money, a brothel and, of course, a scandalous murder.
“I have a lot of fun coming up with crazy characters every year,” Lindsey said.
Community group Leadership Flathead started the fundraiser in 2000 as a way to fund needed infrastructure improvements. The mansion had recently been turned down for a grant because it didn’t have enough community support for the project, Kate Daniels, the museum’s director, said.
“With the money from this event, we’re able to have matching funds for the grants we apply for,” Daniels said. “It shows the foundation or organization that’s offering that grant that we do have support in the community and that people consider the mansion an important cultural thing to preserve.”
That first year the benefit helped put a new roof on the Kalispell landmark. Improvements since then have included siding restoration, an electrical upgrade and the creation of an endowment fund. This year’s proceeds will help upgrade the mansion’s alarm system.
“It’s a pretty big thing for us,” Daniels said.
In addition to the performance, event goers enjoy hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer, non-alcoholic beverages and decadent, flowing chocolate fountains with strawberries. Local caterers, bakeries and beverage distributors provide the food, and for the first time, the Flathead Valley Community College Culinary Arts Club will lend their talents, too.
The Bad Larrys, a local band, will perform live music, and Six Shooters Vintage Photography will be available to take photos of guests during the event. A silent auction and raffle feature prizes donated by local businesses, like raft trips, hotel stays and gift certificates.
“It was the most fun, amazing thing I’ve ever done in the valley – and I grew up here,” Jenna Roe said of being part of last year’s audience. This year, Roe is enjoying the mystery from the actor’s side, using her talents as a professional tap dancer to play Lolly Pop.
It’s a chaotic change. While the audience gets to enjoy scenes as an intimate group in one of the mansion’s many rooms, the actors have to run from room to room repeating each scene.
“It’s organized madness,” said Amy Arakaki, who plays Nosey Rosey, a reporter.
But the actors also enjoy the freedom of the event. They’re free to ad-lib many of their lines and play with the audience as long as they get their important clues across. Performing in one of Kalispell’s most historic locations makes it all the more fun.
“Doing it in this setting, the entire house is a prop,” Rob Dewbre, one of the actors, said. “Just being in this house takes you back about 100 years.”
Death by Chocolate VIII: Wild West Murder Mystery
Saturday, May 2 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Conrad Mansion
Tickets can be purchased for $50 each or $45 for Friends of the Mansion Museum and are available at Books West and First National Bank in Kalispell or by calling the Conrad Mansion at 755-2166.