Brooklyn Publishers - DEATH BY DESSERT

I purchased a perusal copy of this play to review. I love it! I think it will be the perfect play to do with my 8th-grade class. We will be doing it as a dinner theater. I anticipate a lot of fun and a great show!

By Ingrid Stengler - Director - McBride Secondary School

Death by Dessert is hilarious! My grade 11 and 12 students loved working on the production. They struggled suitably with the accents, but were able to capture all the comedy. The central idea of two Italian families fighting was both familiar and enjoyed in our community.

By William Brown - TeacherDirector - Santiam JrSr High School

We performed this play as a Dinner Theatre and received a very positive response from the audience. It was fast-paced, very fun, and fit perfectly with the theme. We also a featured a deadly dessert. The poster pdf was very helpful.

By Kelly Hague - Director - Highmore-Harrold School

This was a wonderful play, I thought it was easy for the cast to memorize lines. There was a little confusion at first because of the boys and girls parts being so much alike but after that it was easy to feed off each other and add lib. We did the dinner theater and had a great response from the community. During the intermission while the guests were eating we played violin music and had a couple kids pretending to play in the crowd and the other kids mingle through the crowd asking if they knew who did it. All in all it was a lot of fun.

By Lisa Paxton - Fundraising Chair - New Tech Institute

This offbeat comedic mystery will delight the audience with its fast pace and entertaining story, and engage performers with its host of colorful characters.

By Anna Chosak - Director - Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School

Our audiences LOVED this show! We sold out a dinner theater performance for adults which was a huge success. Two days later we repeated the play only for the high school and middle school. You could have heard a pin drop...except when they were laughing! Both audiences said it was the best school play yet.

Synopsis

It's dinnertime, and you're invited to a meal so good, it's to die for! In New York's little Italy, the Donnaducce family and the Duccedonni family have been feuding for a generation, while operating two competing Italian restaurants that share a common wall. At rise, the building's landlord is dead at center stage, and everyone is suspect – from the old-world Italian grandmother and mafia don grandfather to the passionate chefs and bumbling waitstaff.

Flashing back in time, the story is told by its victim, who alternately narrates and participates in the action. As customers in the restaurant, the audience is served a delectable meal, but they don't just sit back and watch; each table must cast their vote for whodunit! Will the murderer be ferreted out? Will the feud ever be reconciled? What are the hidden truths about what happened all those years ago?

This offbeat comedic mystery will delight the audience with its fast pace and entertaining story, and engage performers with its host of colorful characters. The play's interactivity makes it ideal for fundraisers, and it can be played with or without the dinner theatre element. Single set is simple and requires no connecting backstage space.