Destination Murder

The Altos 1: Blood Is Thicker Than Wine

The Alto family gathers at the mansion for the reading of wine baron Ernest Anthony “Tony” Alto’s will. Presiding is Carmela, a woman who has never met a sentence she couldn’t improve with the word “freakin’,” and who is refilling her glass of Ernest and Julio Alto red faster than consigliere Big Frankie Coppola can say “stipulates.” Then Sanjo makes an entrance with style, Uncle Julio and a mysterious Contessa with an indeterminate European accent arrive with a bang, somebody gets whacked, and the will finally gets read — and Act II brings even more trouble. Your guests aren’t just watching: many are handed character cards making them part of the family (say hello to “Nostrils” Mondavi and “Two-Buck” Charlotte Shaw), and in Act II they question the suspects before Big Frankie names the killer. The first episode of The Altos, a Godfather-meets-wine-country parody in two acts and five scenes, written for six actors (three men and three women).

The Altos 2: Blood is thicker than Water

“Or, How to Remove Stubborn Wine, Coffee and Blood Stains”

Or, “How to Remove Stubborn Wine, Coffee and Blood Stains.” Tony Alto — “The Godfather of Grapes” — has called a special meeting of the families at the Ernest and Julio Alto Winery to discuss a business deal he refuses to explain until everyone shows up. Everyone includes his wife Carmela (who would like to know who the freak all these people are), his respectively attractive and frumpy twin daughters Sanjo and Nebby (played by one very busy actress), and the new Capo di Cappuccino, Marty “M Diddy” Stewart, with his jittery lieutenant Joey “Jitters” Mochaventi. Wine meets coffee, egos meet espresso, and somebody doesn’t make it to dessert. Guests are welcomed as fellow goombahs and goomahs, hear the suspects’ motives, catch the clues (and the music), then interrogate the suspects before consigliere Big Frankie Coppola cracks the case. Episode two of The Altos, in five scenes: Suspects, Motives, Clues, Music & Murder, Interrogation, and Resolution.

Anytown Legal

Welcome to the employees-only off-site meeting of the law firm of Claim, Poole and Smut, where the agenda is printed in the program and the partners are partners in crime. Your guests are the staff. Your hosts are the attorneys: Alan Shure, Denny Claim, Shirley Shack, newest partner Jerry Espinosa, and Ellenor Fruit of the rival firm Young, Fruit, & Berluti. The evening follows the official agenda: a welcome from the partners (complete with lawyer jokes), dinner, a keynote on “The Future of Claim, Poole and Smut,” a team-building exercise, and a Question and Answer Session that turns into a cross-examination when the firm’s future suddenly gets a lot shorter. Guests work out who did it before the case is closed. A courtroom-drama parody in five scenes. The “Anytown” in the title and the local references are meant to be swapped for your own city, so every audience gets its own hometown law firm from hell.