OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children has expressed its objection with a murder mystery dinner theater performance being shown at The Pier.
Dan Marois, executive director of the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, wrote a letter to Pier owner Paul Golzbein in protest of the Mystery for Hire dinner theater production of “Who Killed Jolly Roger,” which is playing at The Pier on Tuesdays through Aug. 18.
“We at Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. can tell you that murder should not be trivialized and glorified in the form of a dinner game,” he said. “We request that the show be removed or at a minimum an apology be issued to all those who have lost loved ones to murder.”
Parents of Murdered Children offers support groups and other resources to those whose loved ones have died as a result of an act of violence. In 1993, it launched the “Murder is Not Entertainment” nationwide campaign to alert society to toward murder and its aftermath, said Levey.
Dan Morois, chief entertainment officer at Mystery for Hire and Mainely Improve, responded to a press inquiry in an email that was also sent to Golzbein.
“Our venture on the OOB Pier in no way is intended to trivialize the trauma that people go through as victims of murder,” said Morois. “In the same way that people enjoy mystery novels, stage shows with mystery themes, or mystery shows on television or at the cinema, our mystery-themed dinner theater shows are designed for audiences to solve a mystery and, in no way, to glorify violent crimes and the victims such actions leave behind.”
Morois said the current show at Old Orchard Beach is a spoof about gold smuggling pirates who used to sail the seven seas, and the plot centers on how the pirates try to outdo each other in a quest for their fortunes.
“It is a combination of what happens when a comic mystery meets The History Channel,” said Morois. He said the company’s intent is to provide a fun time for people who want to dine out and solve a mystery.
“The folks at the OOB Pier and we, at Mystery for Hire, sincerely apologize if our entertainment brings harm to anyone who has lost love ones to murder,” said Morois.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].
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