2006年VOA标准英语-Bissell Dinner Theater Solves 'Murders' Over Di

By Cheng Xiao Hong and Zhang Songlin
St. Louis, Missouri
19 September 2006
 
watch Bissell Dinner Theatre

The Bissell Mansion¹ Restaurant and Dinner Theater in the Midwestern city of St. Louis, Missouri promises visitors the chance to "get away with murder" with friends and family while enjoying dinner. Elaine Lu narrates². 

"Now ladies and gentlemen, my name is Elliot Mess," says the actor to the dinner guests. "Well, my mother is a mess, my father is a mess, and I am proud to say I am a mess. Hey, you look like a mess too."

 
Mike Missouri Smith
Elliot Mess' real name is Mike Missouri Smith.  He is an actor and writer at the Bissell Mansion Restaurant and Dinner Theater. "I have been performing for 35 years, written 16 plays that were performed here," he says.

The dinner theater is located in the historic Bissell mansion, the oldest home in St. Louis.  The Bissells were a well-known family of military leaders, including the famous American Revolutionary War General Daniel Bissell.

Built in the 1820s, the mansion sits on a vast stretch of land over 600 hectares in size.  Almost two centuries later, it was given new life when it became home to St. Louis' original interactive³ dinner theater in the '70s. 

 
Barbara Schepker
Barbara Schepker is the manager of the dinner theater. She says, "We were the first restaurant dinner theater in the whole United States.  It was our idea, our whole concept, now there are murder mystery dinner theaters all over the country."

The dinner theater boasts its own cast of dedicated⁴ actors.  Missouri Smith is one of them.

The show tonight is about a long ago murder in St. Louis.

"In the 1920s, it was illegal to drink," begins Smith. "So in the city of St. Louis, there were a lot of bootleggers, different bootlegger gangs.  We created a fictitious⁵ gang of female bootleggers called 'dapper flappers.'  When our show starts, the leader of the gang, Norma Lee Vicious, has been brutally⁶ murdered down here in the wine cellar."

 
Florence Achenbach
In the show, Smith is the funny FBI agent Elliot Mess and Florence Achenbach plays his partner Miss Betty Bustem.  Suspects come from the audience.  Everyone will help the actors solve the crime.

Scripts in hand, the customers at the dinner tables are excited about their moment to shine over food and wine.  The four-course dinner is served between acts of the play

Achenbach enjoys being an actor. "The best part about it is that I get to be somebody else for a few hours.  Forget about my nine to five [job], when I am an editor. This way I can be somebody."

Upstairs and downstairs, the restaurant can entertain more than 100 people, while two casts of actors are performing at the same time. Among them is Morgan Hatch, who returned to his hometown from Hollywood to enjoy the dinner theater acting⁷ experience.

"When you walk in the room, your mind just explodes, because you (have) so many things going on. You are trying to remember your lines. You are trying to remember where you should walk.   You are trying to listen to anything clever coming from the audience, and sift⁸ out the bad stuff.   And hang onto the good stuff. You are going to answer to them, and ad lib, so your mind just explodes," he says.

Every diner receives a part in the play when they arrive. It does not matter if they have a line to read from the script or not, it is the spirit of participation⁹, the laughter, and the unique dining experience that draw people to the dinner theater.

Birthday parties, bridal showers, or whatever the occasion, the theater managers say it would be a crime to miss out on this much fun. 

1 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

2 narrates   

v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
• Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网

3 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 fictitious   

adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的

参考例句：

• She invented a fictitious boyfriend to put him off.她虚构出一个男朋友来拒绝他。
• The story my mother told me when I was young is fictitious.小时候妈妈对我讲的那个故事是虚构的。

6 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

9 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。