Arena Dinner Theatre opens their 2024-25 season with a comedic whodunit, but they knew who they wanted to direct it — Prentis Moore.

“I’m honored that they thought of me to do it,” Moore said of being selected to direct Murdered to Death, which opens Friday, Oct. 25, and runs through Nov. 9.

Delivering the funny

Written by Peter Gordon, Murdered by Death is the first in the Inspector Pratt trilogy, that also includes Secondary Cause of Death and Death by Fatal Murder. The stories are a spoof of the Agatha Christie whodunit genre.

In a description of Pratt on Gordon’s website, he’s described as “inept and bungling” who “battles against the odds and his own incompetence to solve the murder of the house’s owner.”

“Definitely some funny innuendos,” Moore said of the show. “If you’ve watched anything on the BBC like Mr. Bean or anything like that, there’s physical comedy. The comedy is across the board, but it’s also a murder-mystery. So, it’s for the Clue and murder-mystery fans, through in some comedy.”

Playing the role of Pratt in the Arena Dinner Theatre show will be Joseph Adams, who was among those that impressed Moore during auditions.

“We had a couple of auditions that were like, ‘Oh my God, this person would fit a couple of these roles,’ ” he said. “It made it real difficult. And the amount of people that came out for the show made it difficult, too. I just looked for someone that could nail the acting part and the comedic timing of it.”

And there is plenty of comedic timing needed for a show with such a diverse cast of characters.

“It’s really about the ensemble,” Moore said. “It’s everyone together. The quirkiness of Inspector Pratt and how that plays off his partner, the constable (Dimitri Wijesinghe). Everybody has an element of comedy to them. 

“You have the colonel (Scott Rumage), then the dry butler (Paul Faulkner), the bougie foreigner (Chris Larpenteur). It’s everything you can want. Someone is going to be like, ‘Oh, that’s me.’”

The rest of the cast of 10 includes Emily Caudill, Alanna Gough, Kandi Magner, Tiffini Taylor, and Eris Black.

Experience

In creating as funny a show as possible, Arena Dinner Theatre selected an ideal director for the show.

“I’ve always been known on stage for my comedic prowess,” said Moore, a veteran on the Fort Wayne theater scene. “So, being able to help actors that are already seasoned, I like being able to throw my thing in there and see it work out, that’s priceless to me. I love it.”

While he is known for his comedy, Moore’s directorial debut had a different tone with First Presbyterian Theater’s Clybourne Park in the spring of 2023.

That Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play examines race, a far cry from a bumbling inspector whodunit this time around. However, despite the different tones of the plays, Moore will be taking lessons learned from this debut into this one.

“As a director, (the actors) trusting you to give them that direction,” he said. “A lot of it is them trusting you to guide them. They’re seasoned actors, so it’s like, ‘What do you want me to do? How do you want this?’ I learned that my first go-round. I kind of was like, ‘Do what you want. Feel it out,’ giving them autonomy to make them comfortable in their movements. 

“I came into this one a lot more prepared as far as, ‘This is the picture I’m trying to create.’ Diving into the script and looking at a lot of spacing and everything like that, just the real technical side of directing.”

Moore also ensures the show is all his by not allowing himself to be influenced by what came before.

“I go into it kind of blind. I don’t like to watch the show or do that kind of research,” he said. “I don’t want to see other productions of the show, because I want it to be what I created in my mind when I read the script.” 

Dinner and a Show

This will be Moore’s second directing gig but his first with folks enjoying a meal beforehand.

“For people that like shows and want to sit down and a have a good time, and also like to eat — you can’t beat that,” Moore said.

The meal supplied by Walnut Hill will be Southern fare with smoked beef brisket, so bring your appetite along with your desire for a good time.

Following Murdered to Death, the Arena Dinner Theatre season will feature the concert Christmas My Way: A Rat Pack Holiday Bash from Dec. 6-22; The Last Quiz on Earth from Jan. 17-Feb. 1; I Hate Hamlet from March 14-29; Girls’ Weekend from May 2-17; and Big Fish the Musical from June 13-28.