Out Front’s ‘Cluedunnit’ is a murder mystery with cultural references and a queer lens

Paul Conroy, founder and producing artistic director of Out Front Theatre Company, thought he had the closing show of his 10^th season locked up — the stage version of the movie Clue. But when the national tour of that production extended, there was a block on the rights. Joining forces with frequent collaborator Jack Caron, the two came up with a solution — writing the world premiere of the murder mystery Cluedunnit. 

Running April 30 through May 16, the new production is in the style of the company’s annual holiday offerings. “We decided to make Clue even more outrageous,” says Conroy. 

It was late summer 2025 when Conroy received the news about Clue. He was trying to figure out what to fill in as a replacement but couldn’t find anything that felt appropriate. Patrons seemed excited about the title, too. “We were thinking people know our brand of humor — and we are not afraid of doing comedy, slapstick, camp and get right to the line of maybe offending someone,” says Conroy. “So we said we’d write a parody. [Jack and I] got going on it at the beginning of the year.  We met once a week and hammered it out.” 

As a parody, none of the character names are the same as in the movie — and Clue is not the only murder mystery they take from; Conroy promises some Agatha Christie and many other references. Audiences should not expect it to be simply Clue with drag queens. “It is not. Jack and I take things people remember about the movie and put them in a twisted queer lens.” 

He wanted Caron on the project because the actor had appeared in three similar Out Front shows — Psycho Beach Party, Murder on the Polar Express and Mamma Dearest! — and understood the type of theater they were creating.

While Caron has written for film before, he’s never done so for stage. He expected a learning curve, yet it all seemed effortless. “I felt honored that Paul asked me to write this with him,” he says. “Every writing session felt like a nonstop improv class. It was like acting it out together, having conversations as the characters.”

In the show, Caron plays Pierre, a super horny French maid/houseboy. The action all takes place in a drag club called The Clue Room. The other characters are Daddy, who runs the Clue Room, and six drag suspects who are invited to a party that evening — Scarlet Fever, Honey Dijon Mustard, Mrs. White Privilege, Verde La Glam, Lady Pisscocks and Professor Plume. Murders ensue, and the play recreates step by step how everything happens and why. 

A 20-year age difference separates the playwrights. “There are a million and one references here to gay culture, which is why we work well together,” says Conroy. “We both have different experiences. I’d write a joke, and he’d come in and say, this is how people would say it now, not 30 years ago.”

Despite the difference in age, both relish the film Clue, released in 1985 and based on the popular board game. Even though the movie doesn’t have overt queer themes, Conroy, who is directing the production, calls it “iconically queer to our community.” 

For Caron, it’s a cultural touchpoint. It’s also a movie that changed the face of the genre. “The movie influences so much, so many films I have seen,” he says. “There is Clue and after Clue when it comes to murder mystery. There have been other murder mysteries before, but Clue is the one that sticks with people. After it came out, murder mysteries have always had an element of comedy in them. No matter what. It really changed the game.” 

Conroy said to a playwriting colleague recently that he feels audiences right now just need to escape, sit and laugh. He makes no bones that he has no interest in programming heavy material now. A piece like Cluedunnit is perfect for the moment. 

“I don’t think this show says anything, but that is OK. Sometimes we as theater artists take ourselves too seriously [and think] that we must create art that speaks to something of the time. Sometimes we literally just need to see a twink run around onstage with a bunch of drag queens . . .  all screaming because there is a dead body. It’s totally acceptable and fine to just allow ourselves the mental break it gives.” 

Where & When

Cluedunnit is at Out Front Theatre April 30 to May 16. Tickets, $35.
999 Brady Ave. NW.

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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theatre Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband Craig.