Whodunnit?! BBI holds “Murder Mystery Dinner” fundraiser for charity projects
BRAWLEY – Members of Burning Bush International Ministries teamed up with actors from American Immersion Theatre this past week to put on a masquerade-themed murder mystery dinner titled
“The Billionaire’s Club Masquerade Ball,” hosted by the Stockmen’s Club on the eerie October 12 evening.
Nearly 162 guests attended the fundraiser dinner, chatting casually amongst themselves while sitting at tables, as masked actors wandered the dining quarters setting the spooky scene and putting all would-be “suspects” in their place. Guests were chosen at random, given character name tags, and a prop to go along with their pre-written motives, explained actor Alyssa Banister who portrayed a maid named “Luna Tick.”
Banister said events like these are designed to let adults loosen up and forget about the stressors of daily life.
“Everybody gets to just play and just have fun,” Banister said, wearing a delicate gold mask covering half of her face. “People work so hard that they forget how to play like a kid.”
The masquerade theme is only one of 14 themes offered by the traveling theater company, which performs all over California and Arizona and hails from Los Angeles. “Hijinks may or may not occur,” Banister said in character in a private interview before the start of the show.
Guests played along as intended, watching the ‘murder’ play out right before their very eyes, eventually teaming up with other witnesses in an attempt to be the first to solve the case. Company actors and guest suspects included “Doctor FeelGood,” “Reginald Sawbucks,” “Jessica Flecsher,” “Luna Tick,” “Reed Diculous,” “Enrique Estrada,” “Bertha” and “Mort Peacock,” “Juan Tidman,” and the host and oh-so-unfortunate murder victim “Sal Fee,” played by Christian Sander.
Following his tragic demise, Sander was whisked away in a body bag, able to transition behindthe-scenes from his first character as the beloved Australian host into his final form for the evening, a detective and investigator named “Peter Ness.”
Chosen suspect and guest, Elia Boniface, talked strategy with her husband, David Boniface, both of El Centro, as their table mates attempted to guess who the killer was. “It’s a lot of fun,” Elia Boniface said, as she wore a name tag that read “Ella Vader.” The prop she had been given was a wedding ring inscribed with “Ella” on it, signifying her motive was that her character had had an affair. She counted the fake paper money she had earned throughout the night and said that guests had to pull funds together in order to get company actors to give up some details.
[Spoiler alert:] Unbeknownst to her, it was later revealed that none other than sweet Mrs. “Ella Vader” was, in fact, the killer. Her real-life husband of 42-years who sat next to her said he was surprised, and the room erupted into laughter at the thought of Elia viciously taking another man’s life.
“They didn’t know they were sitting with a killer!” Elia said, surprised at the news herself. “It was a total surprise! I was so busy eating here,” she joked, poking at the last of her steak.
“I didn’t know it was her, but she killed me all her life!” David Boniface said. “I knew the first time I took her out, I got hit with lightning.”
With the murderous acts and love stories aside, Jim Rhodes, President of local Burning Bush International said he is glad his guests can have fun and give back at the same time.
Rhodes and his wife have been ministering to the people of Uganda since 2012, digging wells and Evangelizing prisons and hospitals in theif faithbased ministry.
“This is all part of allowing us to go further with our [humanitarian] projects,” Rhodes said, totaling the funds raised at about $13,500. “That will go towards a hundred goats for a hundred children. So it’s a wonderful program because it lifts them out of poverty.”
Rhodes said that the money and livestock people receive from Burning Bush can often pay for secondary school education or university classes.
“It’s a life-changing effort, and these folks are making it happen,” he said.