Mysteries Ink brings murder, comedy dinner theater to area

HURON — They won't be driving around in a blue and green 1960s-era panel van adorned with orange flowers. The chances of a goofy, forever-hungry Great Dane being with them are also slim to none. Yet, Mysteries Ink has come to town to uncover secrets and serve up some shows. Although their name was inspired by the long-famous detective group from Scooby Doo, and they will be figuring out "who done it," the similarities between the two end there. The up-and-coming entertainment association is a full murder-mystery theater company, the likes of which the area has never seen. Murder mystery dinner parties date back to the late 19th century and evolved quickly from at-home affairs to live performance events presented by theaters. Typically, shows include audience members by interacting with them as their characters, oftentimes to solicit "help" in solving the fictional murder. Additionally, shows are also often performed with an air of comedy and with a meal fit to the show's theme or time period it is set in. Mysteries Ink came to life in the creative mind of Mark Sartor, who drew inspiration from the time he spent with the legendary Columbus-based Cloak and Dagger dinner theater in the 1980s and 1990s. Sartor recruited the help of other talented area actors, all of whom had met through their involvement with the local theater scene in one way or another. The group bonded closer with the united goal of serving up dinner theater to the Firelands region. "We're just a group of people who really enjoy working with each other and playing off of each other," said Kate Volz, a founding member of Mysteries Ink. "So when Mark (Sartor) wanted to found this company, he reached out to all of us and said, 'Hey do you want to be one of the core members? Here's the idea.' We all absolutely loved it and thought it sounded great because it is really unique." Along with Sartor and Volz, Mysteries Ink features other area acclaimed actors Becky Heyman, Matt Heyman, Cody Noon, Elisha Noon and Vicki VandemBout. Although the group was originally formulated in 2020, it was forced to sit on hold as the world came to a halt and drastically changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. As things slowly went back to normal, the idea was revisited, relaunching in late 2023 with much success. "There are a lot of opportunities for murder mystery in the area, but when you go, it's always like a 'murder in a box,' which is something you could walk into a store right now and pick up everything you need to put on a murder mystery, at home" Volz said. "What makes us different is that this is an actual show. We've met together for months to rehearse it, there's blocking, and song and dance, as this one is a musical as well." The current production of Mysteries Ink is entitled "Bullets for Broadway'' and is described as, "'The Producers' meets 'The Sopranos.'" The story follows the story of Toffee Alto, who wants to be a Broadway star, and her gangster husband, Tony, who needs a fresh way to launder his money. Together they work to put on a musical called, The Mafia Queen. "There is an absolute possibility that a member of the audience will be selected to come up and perform on stage with us or maybe be heckled by the actors," Volz said. "We definitely pick on people from the audience and make it fun for the ones who want to be involved." In addition to the work put in by the Mysteries Ink gang to their performance of "Bullets for Broadway," there is a great deal of preparation that goes into other elements of the event. The theater troupe has once again partnered with Mesenburgs' Creative Catering in Huron, which will be providing the venue location as well as the food. The menu for the next event will feature a four-course meal with desserts provided by D'Elishous Desserts to finish. The next Mysteries Ink event will take place from 7-10 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 19 and Saturday, Jan. 20 at 545 Cleveland Road W., Huron. Tickets to the event, which includes the cost of the meal, can be purchased online at mysteries-ink.com. Going forward into spring, Mysteries Ink will also be hosting shows for Mother's Day with brunch events on May 11-12 as well as two shows in the summer, on July 12-13, the latter of which will be evening shows. Additionally, the troupe is open to the idea of working with other area venues as well as available for corporate bookings or private events