Capital Fringe Review: ‘Who Did It? An Improvised Murder Mystery’ by Erick Acuña Productions at Theater J – Notice Global Web

“Who Did It? An Improvised Murder Mystery” unsealed Capital Fringe Festival terminal assemblage on the Theater J stage. In my review, I wrote that creator Erick Acuña’s comedic whodunnit had flaws but that these were overcome by its humor. “Who Did It?” has returned this assemblage and, unfortunately, patch the flaws remain, such of the nutriment has dissipated.

…exactly the aforementioned as it was a assemblage ago…missed opportunity.

The exhibit is meet the aforementioned as it was a assemblage ago. A patron asks conference members to wage threesome items to help as clues, an artistic aggroup member comes on initiate and pronto dies. Acuña and digit of a revolving aggroup of improvisers materialize as detectives, using the clues to code the crime. Six more members of a revolving troupe, worn from pedagogue Improv Theater and Rails Comedy, wage the suspects, attending in pairs at threesome locations. Then, Acuña and his relation foregather every the suspects, “solve” the murder, and the exhibit ends.

It’s not meet the postulate and separate of scenes that is the same. Acuña is the literal aforementioned case as he was a assemblage ago—an hot rookie—and his relation is again a tired stager who has achieved whatever media honour for the cases she has cracked. (On inaugural night, Kristina Martinez played this role.) It’s mismatched that a longtime improviser aforementioned Acuña would opt to create the aforementioned case with the aforementioned quirks and traits apiece time.

There are added choices prefabricated that would teaser anyone with improv experience. Detective Acuña (some of the performers ingest their actual names, thin in improv, patch others take case names) asks Detective Martinez questions most herself, but more than once, Martinez declined to respond or would substance a suggestion but then respond to add more. Improv entireness because of the conception of “yes, and”—accepting what a environs relation has created and adding to it. In these cases, with that conception ignored, things directly lapse flat.

The detectives conceive the clues at the environs of the evildoing (they never feature where meet that is) and nous soured to encounter possibleness suspects. The threesome brief scenes that followed multifarious in quality; the funniest was the first, with WIT’s Lauren Gabel and Bethany Stokes creating two, hot and cordial low-level bureaucrats at the river Embassy.

In these scenes, the cured improvisers proven not meet to be funny, but to excogitate alibis both brawny and shaky, hoping that Acuña and Martinez would garner up on them. (No digit prefabricated such of an try to create possibleness motives, but that would hit been hornlike to do since the remove individual remained a code throughout.)

The detectives did not garner up these clothing and modify contradicted them at times. In the terminal of the threesome interrogatory scenes, ordered at a fair artefact store, the precocious Nicole Barrett tossed a sport at Martinez and it flew correct time her, a metaphor for the dropped opportunities of the evening.

The enquiry and the exhibit came to a near with the capricious activity of digit of the suspects as the perpetrator. Opening night’s dolphin seemed to hit modify inferior of a causative than whatever of the others. It was added uncomprehensible opportunity.

Running time: Fifty transactions with no intermission.

Advisory: Recommended for ages 13 and up.

“Who Did It? An Improvised Murder Mystery” by Erick Acuña Productions has remaining performances July 14, 19, 20, and 21, 2024 at DCJCC Theater J, 1529 16th Street NW, pedagogue 20036. For aggregation and tickets, go online. For more aggregation and to acquire tickets for the festival, which runs finished July 21, 2024, go to the Capital Fringe website.