The scene is a second-floor ballroom near 26th and Farnam Streets, where 80 people are clustered around large round tables facing a Victorian living room tableau.
Entering, stage left, are Detective O'Malley, trailed by Detective O'Connor, who announce that they are officers with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service, also known as disease detectives.
They're here to investigate an outbreak of an unidentified illness. But they need help. O'Connor uses her "super powers" to swear audience members into the service.
For the next hour and a half, the pair and several other cast members lead participants in "A Puzzling Plague" through a simulated interactive infectious disease investigation, a twist on a murder mystery dinner theater. Rather than solving a whodunit, their goal is to identify the source of the outbreak, contain its spread and limit its toll.
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The production, which continues Saturday night, was developed as a fundraiser for the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Public Health. Registration is open until 1 p.m. Saturday at https://events.nufoundation.org/go/puzzlingplague.
But Katie A. Weitz, chairwoman of the College of Public Health committee for the University of Nebraska Foundation's "Only in Nebraska" campaign, said the program also is intended to help raise awareness about the work of public health in the community, which touches on issues ranging from disease control and prevention to mental health and health equity.
"The thing about public health is it's really everything," Weitz said. "It's all the social justice issues a person could care about in one place."
That work, in fact, has been showcased in recent months by several high-profile events. Local, state and federal health officials launched a multi-prong response after a type of rabies not usually found west of the Appalachian Mountains was identified in a stray kitten. Weeks later, local officials identified a case of active tuberculosis that resulted in possible exposures to more than 500 children and staff members at a drop-in child care center.
It can be serious stuff. Tom Henne, a committee member, said the group was trying to find a way to bring out public health's fun side. He came up with the idea for the infectious disease mystery, which is akin to the murder mystery theater he has enjoyed. He and his wife, Tracy Hightower-Henne, who also serves on the committee, hosted the production. All of the proceeds go to support students and programs within the college.
Weitz produced the event as part of her AdvoKatie initiative, which focuses on nontraditional fundraising and advocacy efforts. The college will own the rights to the production.
Weitz tapped Will Meinen, who teaches at the Omaha Playhouse, performs improv and writes plays and short fiction, to write the script. Meinen also has studied and performed improv and sketch comedy in Chicago.
The piece is based on a historical outbreak. Meinen said it was challenging to write because the genre was new to him. But the scientific bits were not. Before he ventured into the theater world, he earned a master's degree in industrial organizational psychology and worked as a researcher for the Omaha Public Schools.
"It was a nice combination of things in the science space and my ability to do traditional research coupled with sketch comedy writing," he said.
Dr. Ali Khan, the college's dean and a former disease detective, read the script to ensure its accuracy.
"It’s going to be a great opportunity for people to understand what it's like to be a disease detective and bring out the fun aspects of public health," he said.
During the program, participants at each table worked together through a series of clues, some on paper, some delivered by actors, earning points as they proceeded.
"We just thought it was kind of unique and fun," said Gary Cochran, an associate professor in UNMC's College of Pharmacy. He attended Thursday night's show with wife, Korie, and daughter, Hannah, who plans to apply to study within the public health college.
They teamed with Ian Marchinton, a doctoral student in public health who hails from Georgia. "All this is sort of my thing," he said. "I'm so excited for this."
Participants face multiple twists and turns. At one point, several audience members stood to argue their cases on a legal and ethical question. Hannah Cochran relished that detail. "I like the little ethical dilemma," she said.
To lighten the workload, Meinen also worked in a little song-and-dance and some one-liners. Early in the Victorian-era production, a female character asked audience members about the future.
"Can women vote?" she quipped. "Oh, never mind. That's just crazy talk."