Arts & Culture in Mill Valley

At Marin Murder Mysteries, dinner mates may ask you to pass the rolls just before they begin chipping away at your alibi. That’s because guests are both suspects and sleuths during the theater troupe’s interactive performances, attempting to tally the clues and pinpoint the culprit's motive. Each year, the cast and crew serve up three to four different shows that inject generous portions of slapstick into the familiar detective genre. The writers and directors have a particular fondness for the noir-soaked era of the 1950s, with such past plays as Remains to be Seen, Murder Me, Always, and Death of a Doornail. During the show, guests have the option to dine on a gourmet dinner or sip cocktails from a cash bar.

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Redeem your Groupon at will-call the night of your chosen performance. Seats will be in the main floor/orchestra section (the goldenrod section of this chart) and are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure to arrive 15–20 fashionably early minutes prior to showtime.

Humor, song, and drama all unfold at the ACT's historic theater—originally opened in 1910—which blends austere neoclassicism with the occasional baroque flourish. The theater was built during the reconstruction after the 1906 earthquake, only to be struck by 1989's Loma Prieta earthquake, surviving significant damage and undergoing an extensive renovation and seismic stabilization that have enabled it to continue staging fine drama and overcome its reoccurring earthquake nightmares.

Musical-theater works find a stage and an audience through Not Quite Opera's platform of community engagement. The not-for-profit production company gathers playwrights, lyricists, composers, and other San Francisco artists to create performances that reflect upon the lives of fictional neighbors and probe into life's greatest mysteries—such as who would emerge the victor in a wrestling match, Abraham Lincoln or his bionic twin. Artistic director Anne Nygren Doherty, an award-winning playwright and songwriter, works side by side with producer/handyman hubby John Doherty and an evolving collection of area artists to mold music-theatrical fusions, such as the theater's longest-running show, Absolutely San Francisco. The one-woman performance follows Sunshine the Homeless Lady during her journey of personal discovery on a railcar, and was hailed by the San Francisco Bay Times as "fun and funny" and by Statler and Waldorf as "much better than anything Fozzie Bear's done."

For more than 32 years, Punch Line Comedy Club has hosted such comedic greats as Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres, and Chris Rock. Backed by a panoramic mural of the cityscape, national acts and local favorites send their shrewd observations out to audience members, who seat themselves at tables nestled close to the stage in hopes of being baptized by a spit-take. The polished wood of the furniture and expansive bar reflect the grins of patrons enjoying beers and cocktails.