Plus multiple designated audience participants
Interactive Musical Comedy Murder Mystery
How the West
Was Dumb
or, A Fistful of Stupid
The good guy is an idiot. Unfortunately, he’s in charge.
Hollywood made the West a legend. These people are doing their best to ruin it.
The Mystery
The frontier has never been in less capable hands.
Wild Bill Hiccup and the Cheeto Bandito rob a train and head for the open country. Marshal Roger Rodgers — heroic, impeccably dressed in white, and spectacularly dim — sets off after them with Toronto, his far more capable companion.
Calamity Joan joins the chase for the bounty. Along the way come a saloon full of volunteers, a dynamite plot at the Pal-o-Mine Shaft, a cattle stampede, and finally a five-way shootout at the Okee Dokee Corral.
Then Roger Rodgers is murdered — and the audience has to determine which of the survivors finally had enough.
At a Glance
A Western with an unusually high audience casualty rate.
Live performance time
Dinner, intermission & interaction
Passengers, deputies, family, cattle, Q&A & Detective Cards
The Experience
Some audiences watch the cattle stampede. This one is the cattle stampede.
Guests are pulled directly into the Western as train passengers, saloon patrons, deputy recruits, Bandito’s heavily armed family, and even a herd of cattle. No advance preparation is required; the cast coaches participants in the moment.
After the Okee Dokee Corral shootout, the audience questions the suspects and completes Detective Cards before the solution is revealed.
Evidence from the Case
What the West left lying around.
Ideal Producing Environments
Dinner theatresCommunity theatresFundraisers
Performing arts organizationsCivic organizationsCorporate & private events
Production Information & Script
Bring How the West Was Dumb to your audience.
If you’re considering How the West Was Dumb for your season, download a sample here, visit New Play Exchange for the complete script and production information, or request a reading copy directly.
The sample downloads directly from this site—no registration required. The complete script is available to NPX subscribers, or you may request a reading copy directly.
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