Virtual Murder Mystery FAQ

Superfun! That’s what it is! In our case, a Murder Mystery Virtual Party is a live, interactive, comedy mystery show performed by professional actors through the Zoom Virtual Platform. This includes a good guy, a bad guy, a little murder and a lot of fun. The shows are two acts, and everyone plays a part plus there are lots of opportunities for audience participation with no need to memorize lines. Our shows are a lot of fun and are a great way to entertain a group who can’t get together in-person. A Jest Murder Mystery Virtual Show is a great entertainment solution for company Christmas parties or holiday parties, corporate events, birthday parties, family reunions, bachelorette parties, baby showers or just because. Book Jest and your guests will be talking about their experience for years to come…trust us!

This includes a good guy, a bad guy, a little murder and a lot of fun. The shows are usually three acts and everyone plays a part plus there are lots of opportunities for audience participation with no need to memorize lines.

Our shows are a lot of fun and are a great way to entertain a large group. A Jest Murder Mystery Dinner Show is a great entertainment solution for company Christmas parties, corporate events, large birthday parties, family reunions and the occasional bris. This will be something they will laugh about for years to come…trust us!

Jest is unique in the world of interactive theater. We only hire true professionals and we train them to pull the funny out of any situation…and its completely painless! If you’re looking for spooky, detached, dramatic theater…this is NOT your murder mystery company. But…if you’re looking for real professionals to pull your people into the show with oh so much audience involvement, have them rolling in the isles and then make them the heroes of the day, then this is your Murder Mystery Co. It’s not bragging if it’s the truth.

Everyone who wants to participate will receive a fun part to play and will interact with the actors and each other via the chat. They will receive these parts in their chat box during the virtual “cocktail” reception before the show begins. If your guests are late to the party, they may not receive a part to play so make sure everyone plans to be on time!

About 10 or so of your guests will get more involved, on-screen roles where lots of creative, funny, improvisational things will happen. The rest of your guests will be asked to turn their camera’s on from time to time for a reaction or cue phrase and will be encouraged to participate via the chat box. They’re going to have a great time in their new roles!

Our shows include two professional, comedic actors and one highly skilled, virtual stage manager. The show will run about 90 minutes including a short cocktail party for your audience to arrive and receive their parts, act one, a short break and act two. All guests who want to participate will receive a part to play. Most guests will interact with each other and the actors via chat with about 10 or so guests having more involved, on-screen roles. Your guests will witness a comical murder, several of them will become suspects and one will be the murder. All murderers will immediately be arrested and carted off to jail…just kidding, we usually give them a big pat-on-the-back. After the show, we will post screenshots that we grabbed during your event and will share them on Facebook for your guests to share and comment on (www.facebook.com/jestmysteryco). If you don’t want us to share photos of your group having a great time, just let us know ahead of time.

We are very flexible and can normally adjust our shows to meet your needs. A typical timeline including a mix and mingle, our show and a meal is about 2.5 to 3.5 hours from start to finish. Craving more details? Check out our post about a Possible Agenda for our shows.

Our formula includes two rigorously auditioned and better trained entertainers and a virtual stage manager with every show. By keeping the number of entertainers to a minimum, we find that there are many more opportunities for the audience to get involved. This makes our shows more engaging and therefore, much funnier.

Your guests will need to download and be able to operate the latest free version of Zoom (download here). They will need either a laptop or desktop computer with a microphone and camera. Most laptops come with a microphone and camera pre-installed. Encourage your guests to use computers, NOT phones or tablets. Using these other devices will result in a less fun, limited experience. They will also need a good internet connection and will need to turn off any interfering devices that might make their signal weak (like that gamer in the other room, their smart tv, etc).

Our shows are written for mature audiences and do contain some adult humor and references. There is no cursing or lewd content, just some light-hearted, suggestive humor. In general, we do not recommend our shows for young audiences and place the content at a pg13 rating.

You ask for quote…we send one…you fill out contract and pay a deposit…we book our entertainers and virtual stage manager and add you to our schedule…we send you a link for your guests to use to register in advance…your guests register and follow their unique link to join…hilarity ensues…we invoice you…you pay us…everyone talks about how much fun they had…you book us again and again!

Make sure to pay your deposit and sign your contract within 30 days so the quote doesn’t self-destruct. Also, we can’t hold onto any dates until the contract and deposit are received.

Shows are contingent on actor availability so don’t send out the invitations until you get officially confirmation from us that your performers and virtual stage manager are available and booked. If our performers are unavailable for your preferred date and time, we will reach out to see if another date will work for you. If it won’t, we will refund any moneys payed and hope to work with you in the future.

Visa, MasterCard, Discover & American Express. If you pay with a credit card, expect the tinsy winsy processing fee.

Planning a surprise event is a wonderful idea, but it’s not a great idea to plan a surprise dinner theater event. Why? Because these shows are heavily reliant on the participation of the audience and when an audience is surprised with one, they tend to get a little scared and shut down. We recommend that you let everyone know in advance what you are planning so they will be open to having a good time when the time comes. And then they can come in costume! How fun is that!