Heidi: Hello, I'm Heidi Boom Boom.
Tim: And I'm Tim Sonofagun. And you're watching Doing Indy.
Seth: Hi welcome to this episode of Doing Indy. I, as always your host, Seth Hancock, and as you guys know, since this season is all about show us your Indy, we’re taking your request and we’re actually going around and doing the things that you wanted us to do. So we actually got an email, I'm drifting, from our good friend right here. This is Karie Woodward.
Karie: Hi.
Seth: This is Karie and Karie send us an email that said we have to come Milano Inn and check out the Mystery Café Dinner theater thing going on. So we’re here and we got Karie Woodward, who’s kind enough to join us and Karie, first of all why did you send us the email?
Kerrie: Well, I was checking it out online msyterycafeindy.com and it just seem like a really cool place.
Seth: Nice club, by the way. So it's a cool place.
Karie: It seems like a really cool place and fun, exciting, new, hip kind of thing to do mystery café, it's very mysterious here. And I just found it on the internet and decide to check it out.
Seth: And you checked it out and you said this is something that Doing Indy has to cover?
Karie: Yeah, definitely.
Seth: And so, here we are, we’ve got our good friend Karie Woodward. We’re going to go upstairs and we’re going to see what Mystery Café Dinner Theater all about here at the Mila Inn.
You know this couch is actually really cool and it's nice for a great interview. This is the VIP room here at the Milan Inn and we’re lucky enough to be joined by Tina, who is the principal owner of this. Her family has owned this, since 1980, so that’s—I can't do Math, but something like 28 years, at this point. But prior to that, this place has been around since 1934, you guys are the second owners?
Tina: Yes.
Seth: What's great about the Milan Inn that I guess kept this place in business for 74 years.
Tina: I think being family-owned, being one of the first Italian restaurants in Indianapolis.
Seth: So, since this place has been around since 1934, has the menu really changed that much?
Tina: It was very simple in the beginning. They actually tossed the pizza crust in the window.
Seth: Like noble Romans used to do?
Tina: Yeah, so that was really simply, you know. Spaghetti, pizza, probably lasagna, when my Dad bought the Milan Inn, we were fortunate enough to meet Ms. Becky. Ms. Becky trained my chef, who is here with me now. Taught him everything he knows about Italian. We’re still using her recopies.
Seth: How cool is this you guys, I'm actually back stage with the two stars of the Mystery Café. This is Heidi Boom Boom and Tim Sonofagun. And Heidi, I got to tell you, I love the outfit.
Yeah, you look very beautiful.
Heidi: You know, I think it's very modest, is that the word, for high fashion as it is today, but you know, hot pink.
Seth: Yeah, hot pink is very nice. Now, I take it that you're a German.
Heidi: Yeah, of course.
Seth: Okay, yes. I know one German saying and that’s [Foreign Language].
Heidi: Oh, my, oh you are dirty, dirty man. [Laughs]
Seth: I don’t really know what it means, but it seems to turn the German women on. So anyway, I have a guy back here who actually just take a shot, while we’re talking, is Tim Sonofagun. Now Tim, what is your role here today in working with Heidi.
Tim: Well, I guess the biggest thing that I contributed to this show is by mixing this pattern with this really fabulous and sort of really fabulous. We imagined to actually mask Heidi’s pregnancy so that she is still technically on camera, a size four.
Seth: What's it like doing it here, like a place, like the Milano Inn? This is kind of going to be fun doing it at a place this old and is interesting.
Tim: This is old and I will tell you that the history just breeze from the walls.
Heidi: Yeah, you can smell it literally.
Tim: It's been a unique experience, we’re not used to this kind of accommodations, they're fantastic, of course. They're so quaint and –
Heidi: That is a perfect verb, quaint.
Seth: This is Joe Estrange; Joe has been doing Mystery Café Theater here Indianapolis since 1992. What do you think having something like mystery café means to the Milano Inn, means to Indianapolis?
Joe: It means an opportunity for somebody to go out on Saturday night and have fun and go to a party.
Seth: What, and get great food?
Joe: Oh yeah, yeah, great food, yeah, yeah.
Seth: You get great food, you get great entertainment, because it's really a combination of you kind of being the mastermind behind it, the man behind the curtain, and Chris being able to kind of put all of these together,
Joe: Yeah, she’s the artistic director.
Seth: Your artistic director and so, Chris, when you have a vision of kind of putting this together Chris when you had a vision of kind and putting it together you're working with Joe what kind of thoughts or limitations do you kind of think about when you're putting this thing together to make it better attending for the people who are coming.
Chris: Well, we always kind of spoofing—pop culture, we try to keep it young, we try to keep it present and we try to keep it funny, and we try to keep out of trademark infringement so those are definite, definite limitations.
Seth: Yes, Joe is shaking his head on that one there. He's understanding the trademark infringement. The actors that you have performing this, they are scripted, but they do have some you know opportunity to kind of improvise with the audience, because you interact completely with the audience, the entire time.
Chris: The actors are scripted, which is true but they have to leave their scripts in the dressing rooms. So they have an opportunity to forget lines. Our audience remembers, who are in – greater they're not professional actors that I'm paying, bur they have their script in front of them so typically—one more time for air quotes, they are – they're typically on book, so with my actors, it's more of wondering what shows is going to come out that night.
Seth; Well, this sounds fantastic it seems like anything that we’ve seen. The audience gets involve, I mean it just sounds really exciting. But we’ve talked with Tina, we’ve talked with the actors, I think it's time we start the show, but before we do that, it's time for another words of wisdom from my grandmother.
Grandma: You can't put lipstick on the pig.
Who needs therapy with lessons like that, thanks grandma!
Seth: Those of you who are here, obviously by being here, you are going to be on camera, and being part of Doing Indy. If some reasons whatsoever, you choose not to be on camera—
Heidi: Oh please.
[Live Presentation]
Seth: Alright Karie, thank you so much for bringing us out here. We had a great time, it was interesting, it was exciting, it was funny. This really is something that I think that a lot of people should get out and do.
Karie: I agree, and everything was great, the food was great, it was exciting and fun and seen all the different people act, it was great.
Seth: Yeah, it really is, and you know what? You guys can be out here and do this too. It's at Milano Inn, just go to the site, the Murder Mystery Café.
Karie: What a murdermysteryindy.com.
Seth: That’s it, murdermysteryindy.com. But we’ll have it on here, us that’s it? Hold on, wait—mysterymurdercafeindy.com, you're right. But you guys should go there and check it out, there's always something going on here and it's a lot of fun. So for Doing Indy, I'm your host Seth Hancock and remember in Indianapolis, it's always so easy to do so much.
Karie: You just have to get out there and do something.
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