For nine consecutive years, “Murder, She Wrote” was TV’s top-rated drama series. Today, reruns air regularly on cable and streaming services. This month and next, Dad’s Garage in Atlanta is bringing Cabot Cove to Sarasota in the form of “Murder, She Improvised.”
“Dad's Garage is the biggest improv theater in Atlanta and have been around for decades,” Florida Studio Theatre Director of Improv Sarah Durham noted. “They've been at our [improv] festival every summer and we've had a longstanding partnership with them.”
As the name implies, “Murder, She Improvised” is a take-off on the Angela Lansbury classic that ran on CBS.
“We will each night have a completely different mystery where we don't know what the mystery is going to be or who did it,” Durham explained. “It's all decided in the moment. The audience gets to supply us with ideas for clues and characters and alibis.”
Each show is themed.
“So, we may do one week that's ‘Clue’ themed,” said Durham, who is also an FST resident artist. “One that's big down here is our condominium murder or the HOA murder. So, we kind of tailor it to the Sarasota audience.”
Shows are in Bowne’s Lab at 7:30 on Saturday nights Oct. 10 through Nov. 21.
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According to Durham, Florida Studio Theatre previously produced “Murder, She Improvised” in 2019.
“It was popular then, so we're bringing it back for a long run this year,” she said.
Part of the fun with improv is its spontaneity.
“We might have an idea of how it's going to go as we start rolling,” Durham conceded, “but everything can change based on those cards that we pull.”
Many shows involve audience participation in the performance as well.
“We do pull people out of the audience,” Durham acknowledged, “but we only pull people up to play in the show if they are ready to go. A lot of people love to volunteer their seat neighbor or the person they brought with them. When that happens, I bring up the person who volunteered their seat partner.”
Durham noted that Florida Studio Theatre’s improv shows attract numerous repeat patrons.
“Yeah, we’ve got a faithful improv audience and so they know what to expect,” said Durham. “So, we typically get lots of great suggestions.”
The quality of the shows induces people to come back time and again.
As does the unpredictability of the characters and plot lines.
But there’s a third reason for the popularity of FST’s improv offerings.
“Improv at FST is the only non-subscription model in the theater,” Durham noted. “So, it's only $18 or $20 a seat, depending on where you're sitting, and we've got people who come back regularly because it so affordable and accessible. You can just come whenever you want, and I love that about our program, because you never know who's going to end up in the audience and become hooked and come back.”
Performance schedule
- Saturday, 10/10/2026
- Saturday, 10/17/2026
- Saturday, 10/24/2026
- Saturday, 11/07/2026
- Saturday, 11/14/2026
- Saturday, 11/21/2026
More on Sarah Durham
Durham is a comedian and writer from Campbellsville, Kentucky. She believes in the power of laughter, storytelling, and creating spaces where everyone belongs.
As an FST resident artist, she performs regularly, teaches for the FST School, and writes for the children’s theatre and cabarets. Durham also leads original theatre projects for adults with disabilities in partnership with The Haven, creating inclusive, joy-filled productions that center on acceptance and self-expression.
She’s here for the weird, the warm, and the wonderfully unexpected.
More on ‘Murder, She Wrote’
Angela Lansbury was nearly 60 years old when she embarked on “Murder, She Wrote.” The show followed a long and successful career in theater and film. That notwithstanding, the first several television scripts she received were for roles as a maid or housekeeper in an ensemble piece.
“When I got them, I was really pissed off,” Lansbury said in an interview with the Archive of American Television.
So, she sent them back, with a terse reply. A week later she received two scripts. One was for a comedy that wasn’t a good fit. The other was for “Murder, She Wrote.”
"Murder, She Wrote” became the epitome of a cozy mystery show. There was no-graphic violence. There were few obscenities. There was no on-screen sex. The focus was squarely on solving the crime of the week that occurred in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine – population 3,500.
The latter stat became something of a trope. Estimates online placed the number of the little town’s murdered residents as high as 60, with several of Fletcher’s nieces and nephews the prime suspects.
Lansbury did more than star in the show. She also produced numerous episodes, creating roles along the way for guest appearances by actors who hadn’t worked in years, making sure they wouldn’t lose either their insurance or pension payments from the actors’ guild.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
