'Get a Clue' at the Twain House

Aug. 25—HARTFORD — For about six years, guests have engaged in stories of murder and mystery at the Mark Twain House discovering who killed Pap Finn during an evening of improvisational theater.

Sea Tea, the Hartford-based improvisational theater group, presents its take on the classic board game Clue in a night of murder and mayhem called "Get a Clue."

"GET A CLUE"

WHAT: Solve the murder mystery of who killed Huckleberry Finn's father,

Pap Finn.

WHERE Mark Twain House and Museum, 385 Farmington Ave., Hartford.

WHEN: Friday, Aug. 26. Tours leave every 15 minutes starting at 7 p.m.

COST: $27 for adults (discount for museum members), $19 for children; reservations required.

CONTACT: 860-247-0998; marktwainhouse.org

"The Twain House is really unique in that it has all the rooms that are on a traditional Clue board," said Julia Pistell, managing director of Sea Tea Improv, who also used to work at the Mark Twain House and created "Get a Clue."

"We were really inspired by the house itself," she said. The Clemens family lived in the 25-room American high gothic-style mansion from 1874 to 1891, and it is there that Twain wrote "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," and other classic novels.

"We were trying to imagine how an actor could embody Twain characters, without being rigidly scripted. We needed actors who could adjust on the fly and that's where Sea Tea Improv came about."

Six times a year, about nine cast members of Sea Tea Improv take up a variety of Mark Twain characters to enact this special event tour of the house.

"It's different than a regular visit," said Rebecca Floyd, the Mark Twain House's director of interpretation. "It goes through the house in a different order. Everybody starts in the same place and go in the same order. In general we place actors in certain rooms with their clues."

As guests travel through the house, they'll visit a character from a Twain book in one of his rooms. For example, the tour may visit the billiard room where adventurers speak with Tom Canty from "The Prince and the Pauper," who would give clues to who killed Huckleberry Finn's father, Pap Finn.

The group travels through the house collecting evidence through interactions with the characters. After visiting all the characters, the guests takes the evidence collected during the tour to determine who the murderer is, with what weapon.

Every night has a different solution, Flynn said.

"We draw cards just like in the game," she said. "An hour beforehand we draw the cards. I may know the solution and write it on a piece of paper. We don't tell anybody what it is."

Pistell said the actors don't know what the answer is either.

"It's better for the improvisers," she said.

The cast members are given clues to help the investigation along, similar to playing the game Clue where players have cards that tell what the solution isn't.

"You're not trying to figure out the right answer, you're trying to figure out the wrong answer," Pistell said. "It's more about playing the character and building that sense of suspicion.

"It's tricky," she said. "Basically, each actor's job is to eliminate two clues. They have the information for their audience to eliminate two clues. We try to distribute it so we make sure it's spread out. If the audience is smart, it can be pretty easy, but they have to elicit those clues from the actor. If the audience runs out of time they don't get that chance to go back and get that clue again. They have to be deliberate in their questioning to get each clue from each actor."

Timidity isn't uncommon among guests, but Pistell said the cast are trained to help get people engaged.

"People can be intimidated by talking to a live actor," she said. "The actors know what they're doing. The actors are playing with the guests as much as the guests with the actors.

"Usually there is some reticence. They'll be sure to ask around the group. They're all really skilled and experienced to draw people out."

The thing to be sure to do, both Pistell and Floyd said, is to have fun.

"Going in to play to win is not as much fun as play to play," Pistell said. "It's a unique experience. Why would you drive through it as fast as possible? You're there to have a night out and not just win a game of Clue.

"It's more fun for us if the audience plays it too," she said. "If they talk to the character about their character, a little chatter with Huck Finn is more fun with us than hard driving through the checklist. Be curious about the character; be curious about the room. Accusing a character of committing a murder is fun because it gives the actor something to respond to. It makes it more fun for everybody."

"Experience the Mark Twain House in a fun way," Floyd said, "and get a spark to go back to revisit his stories."

Friday night is the last "Get a Clue" of the season. The Twain House then gets ready for its annual graveyard shift ghost tours Sept. 30-Oct. 29 and the Clemens Christmas conversations in December.

For coverage of local restaurants, cultural events, music, and an extensive range of Connecticut theater reviews, follow Tim Leininger on Twitter: @Tim_E_Leininger, Facebook: Tim Leininger's Journal Inquirer News page, and Instagram: @One_Mans_Opinion77.