If you’ve ever wanted to solve a homicide, eat a proper meal, and quietly settle some scores with your own homeowners’ association all in one evening, then Foothills Community Players have a Saturday plan to die for.
Death for Dinner, FCP’s tenth original murder mystery dinner show since 2022, hits the stage at The Bird and The Book on Saturday, May 16. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the show kicks off at 7:00. We sat down with co-writer Bailee Burleson this week to get the scoop before the curtain rises.
The crime takes place in Crest Valley Hills, a fictional and very well-manicured neighborhood where the HOA board runs the place like minor royalty. There’s a power struggle brewing over who’ll be the next HOA president, and one of the front-runners is a fellow named Hudson Calloway.
“He’s kind of a sleazeball,” Bailee told us. “Just kind of a snake.”
Hudson throws a neighborhood cookout to campaign for the top spot. Things do not go according to plan. By the time the suspects gather, Hudson has been stabbed in the back with a pair of garden shears and is face-down on his own grill — which, you have to admit, is one way to end a campaign.
Six suspects. Every one of them has a motive. Only one killer. And nobody — not the cast, not the narrators, not the bartender, not even FCP’s own actors — knows whodunit until the reveal. The only two people in the world holding that secret are Bailee and her co-writer Hannah Childs, who also happens to be FCP’s current president. The pair have been trading off and teaming up on these scripts since 2022.
This is not sit-back-and-watch theater. When you walk in, you’ll get a Detective Kit with the questions being asked on stage, plus space to scribble notes and write your own questions for the suspects. Because — and this is the fun part — the suspects come right out into the audience.
The format runs three rounds. Narrators set up the scene and grill the suspects on stage, then the suspects walk out among the tables for direct questioning. You ask them anything. Where were they at the time of the murder? What was their beef with Hudson? Have they bought any garden tools recently? Go nuts.
After the third round, you fill out a “whodunit” slip with your guess and your reasoning. Whoever gets closest to the truth — and makes the most convincing case — walks out with a winner’s basket and two free tickets to the next murder mystery.
Foothills regulars will spot some familiar faces, and the rest of the company is brand new to the FCP stage:
Caleb Lantz is a murder mystery veteran. He’s been in nearly every one since 2023 and was most recently the butler in FCP’s main-stage Murders in the Air. Chloe Adsit and Elise Trelfa are coming off FCP’s recent Almost, Maine. The rest of the cast is making their FCP debuts.
Here’s a behind-the-curtain detail worth knowing: this cast has had exactly one rehearsal. That was last Friday, May 8, when they gathered for a single read-through to make sure all the clues and timelines line up. The performance itself is roughly half script, half improvisation, and actors are allowed to keep their scripts in hand during the show. When an audience member lobs an unexpected question, sometimes you need to check your notes on where exactly your character was when the shears came out.
There’s a new cook at The Bird and The Book, and she brought some fresh ideas. The menu this time:
The service schedule has been tweaked this year. Your entrée and sides hit the table before the show starts, so you can eat in peace through the first round of questioning, with dessert served between rounds. Less fork-clinking during the dramatic accusations.
And because it is, after all, a murder mystery, there are two themed cocktails at the bar:
Here’s the rundown:
We had to ask. Bailee has worked in real estate since 2020, and HOAs were apparently rattling around in her head. “I’m sure people have plenty of crazy neighbor stories,” she said. “I thought this would be relatable.”
Reader, she is not wrong.
Death for Dinner — Saturday, May 16, 2026. Doors 6:00 p.m. | Show 7:00 p.m. | The Bird and The Book. Grab your dinner ticket before 4:00 on May 14th, or pick up a show-only ticket and come solve a murder.
