Most Syracuse University students are forced to choose between the edible and the mysterious when venturing into dining halls. They use their investigative skills to sort real foods from perplexing goop and piles of rubberized, bland-colored substances.

Saturday night, students in Brockway Dining Hall will solve another mystery — playing sleuths to catch the killer in the dinner theater play, “Big Louie.”

A cast from the Syracuse-based ACME Mystery Company will perform the show as guests enjoy their meal. Students act as the members of the “Bangalone Gang” and they are encouraged to interact with the cast while playing detective.

“The cast will randomly assign different parts to different guests, but if you’re shy, you can just sit back and enjoy the prime rib with no pressure,” said Tony Bartocci, a sophomore information studies major and community service adviser for the Residence Hall Association.

Guests will find a clue on each table and compare them with other tables to figure out the whodunit, Bartocci added.

Instead of the usual baked chicken, pizza and fries, the entres of the fully-catered buffet dinner include prime rib, pork tenderloin, chicken and veal parmigiana and a variety of pastas.

“It’s going to be nothing like normal dining hall food,” Bartocci said.

The RHA is sponsoring the dinner theater and plans to donate all of its proceeds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Their goal is to raise more than $5,000, the average amount needed to grant one child’s wish.

“We’ve done a lot to raise the money, with the snow people we’ve sold in Schine and in residence halls, the ticket sales and all our sponsorships,” Bartocci said.

Many students are excited about the event and RHA is confident it will be a success, said Allison Green, an RHA co-adviser.

“It’s an amazing program and the committee and general members have worked hard,” Green said. “Hopefully it’ll become a tradition. I’d love to see that happen.”

Brockway Dining Center has made many efforts to set the stage and transform the room by using cloth tablecloths, setting the tables and hiring extra staff.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” said Lynda Hamilton, manager of the dining hall. “It’s always fun to have a little challenge, and it’s great to be doing something good for the community.”

Published on February 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm