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Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s MURDER BY THE FALLS event has served as our venerable non-profit’s season kickoff fundraiser every fall for many years helping to offset the costs for the upcoming slate of productions for our 97th Season. The event offers a unique and entertaining experience in which the audience members are deputized as detectives to solve the crime!

Audience members arrive at CVLT at 6:00 p.m. to enjoy a reception featuring hors d’oeuvres and a cash wine/beer bar. The first act begins on the Main Stage at 7:00 p.m. with a dastardly plot and amusing characters.

The audience then leaves the theater during intermission to search for clues hidden in the windows of nearby Chagrin Falls Village stores. Then they’ll enjoy coffee, desserts, and beverages back at Township Hall while deliberating over the correct solution to the mystery.

After submitting their solutions, audience members will return to the auditorium for the second act, in which the killer will be revealed and the prize winners and free CVLT tickets will be announced.

“Murder by the Book”

This year’s original play, Murder by the Book, is penned by Jill Koslen-Freireich.

Harper Monroe, Chagrin Falls’ hometown hero, is returning to Sisters Booksellers for a signing of her latest bestselling murder mystery, Murder by the Falls. The celebrated author, former beauty queen, and local success story is welcomed by many familiar faces from her past. Unfortunately, not all of them are thrilled to see the ‘golden girl’ come home.

As the evening unfolds, old rivalries resurface, bitter grudges bubble to the surface, and long-buried secrets refuse to stay hidden. Jealous sorority sisters, resentful former students, a scorned ex-fiancé, a rejected publisher, and the parents of an old boyfriend all have unfinished business with Harper. Smiles are exchanged, compliments are offered… but beneath the polite conversation lies enough resentment to fill the falls.

When Harper is found murdered during the event, a sharp-witted detective arrives and immediately locks down the bookstore. With the help of the audience, every clue, every alibi, and every suspicious encounter must be examined before the killer slips away.

Packed with outrageous characters, laugh-out-loud comedy, surprising twists, audience participation, and a mystery that will keep everyone guessing until the final reveal, Murder by the Falls proves that in a small town, memories are long… and revenge never goes out of style.

Producer: Nancy Rogoff
Playwright/Director. Jill Koslen-Freireich
Assistant Directors: Kimberly Joseph, Lisa Georges
Props: Julia Wolf/Jim Freireich/Kimberly Joseph
Costumes: Diane Sofer

STARRING:

Jay Hill as Detective Calloway
Jan Jones as Eugena Whitmore
Margo Parker as Eleanor Whitmore
Mark Durbin as Hector Rodriguez
Brenda Redmond as Heidle Rodriguez
Greta Rothman as Isabel Monroe
Ricki Cardenas as Harper Monroe
Civia Wiesner as Gloria Vandemeer
Adam Young as Robert Vandemeer
Charles Kehres as Ethan Vale
Eric Oswald as Vincent Carlisle
The Kappa Kappa Gamma Sisters: Brenda Willis, Lindsay Walker, and Jaime Moore
The Fans: Lisa Georges, Diane Sofer, Jill Freireich, Kendall Silverstein
Two Guys and a Guitar: Quinn Quilty Montgomery & Craig Smylie
Customers: Diane Sofer & Lisa Georges
The Former Students: Raleigh Orosz Hayes & Tahzae Letcher
Live Clues: Jennifer Barrett, Natalie Dolezal
and featuring
Mayor Bill Tomko and Mayor Bill Koons as themselves