Tomorrow night, the Sigma Pi fraternity and Pi Beta Phi sorority will host their second annual “Murder Mystery.” The event will be held at the Sigma Pi fraternity house at 7 p.m., and proceeds will benefit the Children’s Brittle Bone Foundation.
Guests will be entertained during dinner by members from both chapters acting out a murder mystery. Throughout the evening, some characters will be killed while others reveal clues about the murderer. At the end, “guests then have to figure out ‘whodunit,'” said Michael Glicken ’05, co-philanthropy chair of Sigma Pi. “We’re building off the idea of reality TV shows, and we’re going with a Joe Millionaire theme.”
The characters in the mystery will include “Joe Cornell Millionaire,” ten potential dates, a butler and a hostess. “We tried to incorporate a recent fad into this year’s murder mystery, which I think will only make it funnier,” said Jason Klein ’03, who will play the role of “Joe Cornell Millionaire.”
Unlike the television show, where potential candidates are voted off, these dates are “killed off,” Glicken said.
“It’s pretty funny. … We write a script and it’s basically like the game of Clue,” said Jessica Allen ’03, co-chair of the event.
The event benefits a charity founded by Glicken’s family 10 years ago. The Children’s Brittle Bone Foundation was “started by my parents and their friends because my sister had problems with the disease,” Glicken said. The foundation raises money to fund research for osteogenesis imperfecta, a disorder that leaves the bones weak.
The two houses chose this charity because “no one else had charities that they felt as passionately about,” Glicken said.
The houses hope to attract 80 to 100 guests and raise $1,500 to $2,000 for the cause. Tickets are $25 each or $40 per couple and can be purchased from any Sigma Pi or Pi Beta Phi member or at the door.
“The people who are in charge put in a lot of time and effort. [Since] all the money goes to [the Children’s Brittle Bone Foundation], people take it seriously so we always raise a lot of money and it’s a fun time,” said Michael Taylor ’05.
In addition to the “Murder Mystery,” both houses host two other annual philanthropic events. Sigma Pi holds an annual jazz night and Pi Beta Phi recently had its annual carnival. The carnival, which was held in the Arts Quad, raised $1,400 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
The “Murder Mystery” is targeted not only at students but also at “professors, coaches and local alumni. [It is] a philanthropic event that draws on a different crowd,” Allen said.
“The purpose of an event like this is to bring together members of the community, Greek and non-Greek, to have a good time in the name of a charity we feel strongly about supporting,” Klein said.
“[It’s a way] to do something nice, raise money for the Brittle Bone Foundation and promote a better stereotype of the Greek system in general,” Allen said.
Archived article by Diana Lo