“Citizen Detective” is yet another gem from the creative forces at the Geffen Playhouse. Written and directed by Chelsea Marcantel, and featuring Paloma Nozicka and Mike Ostroski, is a suspenseful whodunnit, actively engaging the zoom audience, to solve the crime, just as police often welcome public citizens as supplemental, essential detectives on the case at hand. In this case, audience members are divided into teams (mine was the gut followers). The audience embraces the cues and clues and take the Hollywood murder mystery into their own hands. At first, it may seem like a challenging virtual game of Clue, with viewers jumping into dangerous waters and unchartered territory, but each person discovers his/her own inner instinct; ultimately working together to analyze each detail of the scene of the crime. The two main characters (Nozicka and Ostroski) serve as both guides and foils to help aide in getting to the truth of the matter, yet also at times confuse the teams with twists, turns, and mistaken identities, much in the same style of Alfred Hitchcock, Agatha Christie, and Rod Serling. Finding the hidden kernel and solving the crime is almost as amazing as the production itself. To get the last piece to the big puzzle is the ultimate reward for all. Citizen journalism and detective work has become all the rage and so necessary in matters of life and death, both on the street and on this stage. In this show, it’s obvious that each audience member gets completely invested, devoting their entire being, mind, and soul into logical deductions, based on both physical evidence and gut instinct. Similar to the recent HBO Max’ “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” intriguing problems and cases can take experienced police forces 30 years to solve, and stymie breakthroughs, until ‘citizen detectives’ and ‘third eyes’ step in. Everybody loves a scintillating game of clue or whodunnit, especially during a stifling pandemic. “Citizen Detective” is brilliant in inspiring attention to detail among the audience sleuth members in a fun, engaging, interactive virtual escape room on screen. This show will leave you mystified and empowered in one. Get your crime drama/mystery genre game on and check out “Citizen Detective.”
through Feb 7, 2021
