You’ll want to visit this cozy small town full of fascinating personalities at What If Theatre.

One never wants to be late for a show, and in this case, arriving early pays off. At What If Theatre’s production of Small Town, Big Murder, the first few audience members can influence the plot by choosing a town name or a suspect’s motive. There is something endearingly special and strangely satisfying about visiting a town and meeting citizens who will never exist again, as though you are part of a group secret that you really have to be there to understand.

Several improv instructors tell their students that long-form improv is used more often for applications such as character development, education, therapy and corporate training than it is performed onstage. What If Theatre, along with other Denver-area improv teams, is bringing long-form improv to the stage with entertaining results in Small Town, Big Murder.

At the show I attended, the action is set in the quaint small town of Shoopville. With a little help from audience suggestions, the actors instantly formulate personas. As they build and thicken the plot, each character develops greater emotional depth, relationships and temperament. The victim, Desdemona (Jo Niederhoff), adds to the richness of the story by engaging in flashbacks with other characters to reveal the events leading to her murder.

One of the suspects’ motives forces actor Gretchen Grunze into the role of Stella, the town’s corrupt mayor. This gives Dre Ford’s Stu the opportunity to jump in with his “Stu for You” campaign and challenge her in the mayoral race. Police Chief Estaban’s (Harrison Wilterdink) unfaithful wife, Isabella (Mel Evans), who has been having an affair with the deceased, slowly becomes so starved for touch that she moves right on to The Great Clyde (Andy Alder), who performs magic tricks and commits theft for cash.

Mel Evans and Kristin Nordin in ‘Small Town, Big Murder.’ | Photo: Reverie Klein

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Shoopville has its struggles, too

Cast members build the show from a mix of small scenes, large scenes and monologues. They move with clockwork precision from one piece to the next as they advance the story. I am used to seeing hesitation from improv actors, the small step forward that says, “Should I go next? Are you going next? Whose turn is it to move?” Small Town, Big Murder has none of that. Performers transition through their scenes with the well-practiced skill of a team that knows one another well.

Though the transitions are swift, the overall pace of the show is unhurried. With improv, it’s difficult to tell whether that results from actors struggling to think quickly enough on the spot or from a note from Director Joy Carletti to move at a measured speed. Unfortunately, this slower pace doesn’t support a strong improv show. The wrong pace is a bigger danger than a small-town killer.

The nature of improv means there will always be surprises. Sometimes they work out for everyone’s benefit, and sometimes they do not. Shoopville’s technician is Devan Meck, who is also an improv performer, while Colin Iago McCarthy designed the lights and sound. Meck has a collection of sounds she uses to surprise the actors during the show. Near the beginning, a series of bird calls fills the air, which I found incredibly distracting. In a later scene, a cat cries out, and Kristin Nordin’s Regina, a gardening busybody in town, takes the opportunity to run onstage and chase the cat out of her garden. This becomes a major plot point. Indeed, this one improvised sound effect directly determines the killer’s motive.

Micaiah Chacon and Gretchen Grunzke in ‘Small Town, Big Murder.’ | Photo: Reverie Klein

A nice, cozy mystery

Unlike scripted shows, Small Town, Big Murder has the quirks that always come with improv. When Nash (Micaiah Chacon) and Stu (Dre Ford) drink at Smitty’s Bar and console each other about their troubles, the bar’s height changes depending on the actor’s height. That is part of the charm of improvisational theatre. Nash is the only Scotsman in Shoopville. After the show, I ask someone where in Scotland he’s from. He isn’t from Scotland; he just really likes working with accents. Improv doesn’t mind. This is a new location with new inhabitants at every performance.

Generally, I am a master at solving the mystery before the ending. Then I remember that in improvisational theatre no one knows who the killer is — including the killer — until the very end. Small Town, Big Murder is something different from what audiences are used to. Improv is always a risk, though it’s hard to go wrong with a nice, cozy murder mystery.