“New! Improved! Deader Than Ever!” — Now twice as dead

Advertising characters gather for the funeral of a beloved cereal mascot — but what’s behind his unexpected death? Is one of the mourners … a cereal killer?

One of the frequent themes of play competitions is the short murder mystery. I wasn’t a huge fan of the genre, and I knew that any attempt by me to write a traditional, typical whodunit would pale beside other entries. 

Still, I was intrigued by the challenge. But I’d have to find a quirky hook for the story that would make it stand apart and be uniquely mine. What I came up with was a murder set in the world of advertising — more specifically, advertising characters, who exist alongside us flesh-and-blood humans (I don’t get into how; just accept it).

They’d be gathering for a funeral of one of their own, and trying to solve the mystery of who was the killer. 

It seemed like a fun idea — and offbeat scenario with larger-than-life characters and a mystery with an unexpected conclusion. 


The writing came fairly easily, but first, there were two big problems to solve. One was in characters. I wanted an assortment of stock advertising mascots (magicians, detectives, mythological creatures, etc.) and typical product categories (detergents, cleaners, cereals, cooking ingredients, etc). I was surprised at how many of my character names were already in use by companies. Since I didn’t want the issue of potential copyright infringement hanging over the play, I had to keep brainstorming; that alone took up weeks (and many pages) as I exhausted every possibility for the characters I needed.

And then there was the story itself. I had to not just subtly lay clues to the murderer’s reveal, but also work out the killer’s motivation, along with coming up with reasons why everyone else is a potential suspect. And pepper in jokes throughout to (hopefully) keep the audience laughing and just going with the plot.

When I finally finished, I didn’t know if all my effort was even worth it. Would there be an audience for my quirky little murder mystery?


Turns out, there’s at least two audiences. In October 2026, The Chameleon Theatre Company gave it a staged reading in Inver Hills, Minnesota. 

And a few weeks earlier, the Village Playbox in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, gave it a full performance in September as one of 29 (!) plays featured in their 2026 Act 1 Scene 1 Festival. Seeing the actors in costume and in character was a treat; hearing the laughs they generated with my material was even better.

October 2026

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