Lake County >> Bert Hutt easily traces his theatrical tendencies back to his childhood.
“I grew up with three older sisters and they used me as a living doll,” he explained with a laugh. “I started portraying people and things at an early age.”
Throughout his childhood and into his adulthood, this remained true. He went from makeshift plays organized by the kids in his neighborhood to college theater productions at Ohio State University. Upon graduation, he received a BFA in studio art and a minor in theater, and for a time he lived in Virginia and did regional theater.
Eventually Hutt made his way to the west coast and settled down in Santa Rosa with his wife, Christine Hutt. There he dabbled in some street theater, including a popular New Year’s Eve production called Cirque du Silly, which attracted 25,000 people in one night alone.
But he’s never been more involved in a community than he is in Lake County. Before Hutt and his wife even moved up here in 2003, they joined the Chamber of Commerce to find out who was doing what and what still needed to be done. Once he was settled in, the first thing Hutt did was throw himself headfirst into activities. He took part in the very first Dickens Market and joined the board of directors for the Friends of Lake County Museum.
“I found out that if you get into community involvement you find people that really care,” Hutt said.
Today, Hutt is very much a prominent member of the community. He’s the marketing director of First Big Builders, a Lake County Chamber of Commerce board member and a Certified Tourism Ambassador. He does voice overs for KPFZ, sings and plays the guitar.
During the 2016 Stars of Lake County community awards, Hutt was nominated for Local Hero of the Year, for his work during the Clayton Fire. After the flames destroyed 300 structures, he drove to Lower Lake to visit evacuation centers, speak with fire survivors and find out how he could help Red Cross volunteers. He also assisted with cleanup, and FEMA and insurance claims.
But Hutt is perhaps best known for his theatrics. He’s the founder of Murder Us Productions, a live dinner theater company that specializes in interactive murder mysteries. Over drinks and dinner, Hutt and a small cast of actors put on a classic whodunit, during which they subject themselves to interrogations by guests trying to suss out the murderer. Every dinner is themed —1920s speakeasies are popular — and guests are encouraged to come dressed in their very best.
Murder Us Productions isn’t limited to one venue. Instead, the actors travel around the county. Over the past four-and-a-half months, they’ve put on shows at Cache Creek Vineyards and Brassfield Estate Winery in Clearlake Oaks and the Courthouse Museum in Lakeport. Each year, in conjunction with the Big Read, Hutt takes the company to the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake.
The hotel’s owner, Bernie Butcher, might actually be credited with starting it all. Back in 2007, he approached Hutt about putting on a murder mystery dinner at the venue. Hutt, who never left his theater roots behind, enthusiastically agreed.
While traditional stage plays require months of rehearsals, dinner theater is simple. There’s no memorization, no stage directions, no lighting or sound systems or backstage personnel. It’s just the actors, some costumes, and an audience. The cast meets maybe twice before the actual show. They receive their character’s names, secrets and relationships to one another, then they go over the details of the murder. During every show, Hutt always plays the victim.
It’s been 10 years and Murder Us Productions is only gaining popularity, for actors and audience members alike. While Hutt works with a number of familiar faces from the local theater scene, he also has people reaching out to him about gaining a role in a show. There’s a waiting list for actors.
Hutt does like to find fresh faces and new talent, but some cast members have been a part of Murder Us Productions since the beginning. Watching them evolve and come into their own over the years has been one of Hutt’s favorite parts of running Murder Us Productions.
Although live dinner theater isn’t a new concept, Hutt’s company is unique to Lake County, and this may account for the increasing demand. “It is unusual,” Hutt said. “It’s not your normal entertainment and the way we craft them is that it’s totally interactive, because we involve the guests in solving the crime.”
Every live theater production has a different script and a different cast of characters, all written by Bert and Christine Hutt. There are times when it takes them a while to work out all the details, and other times the script unfolds seamlessly. It helps that they’ve always been fascinated with crime shows and novels, and they know the formula for crafting the perfect mystery. The most recent show at Brassfield Estate only took two hours and a bottle of champagne to work out.
So how does Hutt find the time to juggle his very full schedule? He often wonders that himself, but he does thank his wife of 40 years, who shows great understanding of his need to be present and active in the community.
As for why he likes to keep busy, well that one is easy. “I’m a show off,” he said, chuckling. “I like to entertain and I like to be entertained by people’s reactions to the things I can imagine and make happen.”
For more information on Murder Us Productions, you can visit the company’s page on Facebook.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
