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Otter Productions creates repeatable fun!!  We are a Maryland and Pennsylvania based group of comic performers specializing in improvisation and interaction;  performances that are so unique and so much fun that you’ll look forward to coming again and again.

See below for THE PUBLIC SHOW SCHEDULE and how we can co-create a fun-filled event.

We invite you to our BLOG

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Our locations for public shows are:

The French Manor - South Sterling, Pennsylvania (the Poconos).
November 15-17, 2013 - show title: C S I North Pole

M & H RR -Middletown, Pennsylvania - south of Harrisburg.  
Shows: Saturdays: September 14, October 12, and November 16, 2013

The Black Eyed Susan - paddle boat in Baltimore, Maryland 
Shows: Friday June 21; Saturday July 13; Sunday July 21; Saturday August 3; Friday August 23.

Open Door Cafe - 410-838-4393 - 528 Baltimore Pike, Bel Air, MD 21014

Saturdays June 22 & November 2, 2013


In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania -  The Pride of the Susquehanna Riverboat
 Shows: Fridays: June 14; July 5, 12 & 26; August 2, 16 & 30; September 6, 13 & 20; October 4, 11, 18 & 25; November 1 & 8.

For Tickets

Listen to radio interview from September 14, 2012 on WITF in Harrisburg Pennsylvania.


In Middletown, Pennsylvania - Vineyard at Hershey - Next Show: Summer 2013

 
See full details below
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The Patriot- News of Harrisburg Pennsylvania described what we do.......
 

Trains, boats give life to murder-mysteries
Sunday, June 08, 2008 
BY MARY O. BRADLEY
Of The Patriot-News 

The stage moves, the audience interacts with the actors, the script crackles with improvisation and the fragrance of food wafts through the dining room. 

A murder-mystery on a passenger train or a river boat is a menu for fun -- once the audience loses its inhibitions........... 

see full story from The Patriot-News                                           

                                                Shows: 2013       

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Friday June 14, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna- 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Much Ado About Death (Shakespeare always ends badly). For Tickets

Friday June 21, 2013 - Black Eyed Susan - 410-342-6960 - in Canton area of inner Harbor of Baltimore - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 6:30 PM. Show title: Alienated by Murder (about those from outer space - is it us versus them?) 

Saturday June 22, 2013 - Open Door Cafe - 410-838-4393 - 528 Baltimore Pike, Bel Air, MD 21014 - show: "Murder in Spades" (gamblers gather if you dare).

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Friday July 5 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 5:30 PM. Show title: Who Is The Confederate Spy? (a civil war mystery with no death). For Tickets

Friday July 12, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Pier Pressure (owning a boat is a killer).For Tickets

Saturday July 13, 2013  - Black Eyed Susan -410-342-6960 - in Canton area of inner Harbor of Baltimore - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7:00 PM. Show title: You Auto Be Dead (cars run on what?).

Sunday July 21, 2013 - Black Eyed Susan -410-342-6960 - in Canton area of inner Harbor of Baltimore - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 6:30 PM. Show title: An Idle Murder (stardom at any cost).   

Friday July 26, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Alienated by Murder (about those from outer space- is it us versus them?) For Tickets                                         

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Friday August 2, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Pyrites of the Caribbean (all that glitters is not golden). For Tickets

Saturday August 3, 2013 - Black Eyed Susan - 410-342-6960 - in Canton area of inner Harbor of Baltimore - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title:  Pyrites of the Caribbean (all that glitters is not golden). 

Friday August 16, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Who Is The Confederate Spy? (a civil war mystery with no death). For Tickets

Thursday August 22, 2013  - Black Eyed Susan - 410-342-6960 - in Canton area of inner Harbor of Baltimore - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 12 PM. Show title: TBA.

Friday August 23, 2013 - Black Eyed Susan Black Eyed Susan - 410-342-6960 - in Canton area of inner Harbor of Baltimore - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title:  Curse of the Scroll (To Egypt or die!).

Friday August 30, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Crocodile "M" for Murder (one way to the outback).For Tickets

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Friday September 6, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Par for the Corpse (scream before swinging). For Tickets

Friday September 13, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Who Is The Confederate Spy? (a civil war mystery with no death). For Tickets 

Friday September 20, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Pier Pressure (owning a boat is a killer).For Tickets

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Friday October 4, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: 'Til Death Us Do Part (a wedding vow speaks for itself). For Tickets

Friday October 11, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Bonded by Murder (shaken and stirred). For Tickets

Saturday October 12, 2013 -M & H RR- dinner train in Middletown PA near Harrisburg - 717 944 4435 - show TBA - train leaves station at 6 PM.

Friday October 18, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Pyrites of the Caribbean (all that glitters is not golden). For Tickets

Friday October 25, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: The Vampire Strikes Back (old actors are not that user friendly). For Tickets

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Friday November 1, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: ...And 3 Hard Boiled Eggs (Groucho meets Nucky).For Tickets

Saturday November 2, 2013 - Open Door Cafe - 410-838-4393 - 528 Baltimore Pike, Bel Air, MD 21014 - show: Mild Thing (football at its most dangerous)

Friday November 8, 2013 - Pride of the Susquehanna - 717-234-6500 - City Island in Harrisburg, PA - dinner and show - boat leaves dock at 7 PM. Show title: Mild Things (football infamy). For Tickets

Friday-Sunday November 15-17,2013 - The French Manor, Sterling, Pa. - 877- 720-6090 - mystery weekend         Show:    C S I North Pole

Saturday November 16, 2013 -M & H RR - dinner train in Middletown PA near Harrisburg - 717 944 4435 - show TBA - train leaves station at 6 PM.

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See details of Public Locations below

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 Below you will find current projects and the eclectic diversity of our talents.  We as individuals have not just years but decades of experience in the entertainment industry including just about any venue you can imagine.  Just with Otter Productions alone we have conservatively near 100 corporate accounts in our experience; we have been in business since 1995.
                 

    Originally we were formed to provide murder mysteries aboard dinner trains in both the Maryland and Pennsylvania areas; some of us performed on trains previous to this for other organizations.  We did so with extreme success both on the Entertrainment Line in Western Maryland as well as the Liberty Limited in New Freedom, Pennsylvania.  Those trains have long since gone out of business and now we have been in central Pennsylvania performing since 2003.  The current dinner train is: Middletown &Hummelstown Railroad, just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  
 M & H RR is currently taking bookings for groups and charters - contact M & H RR 

Our next show: Saturday, September 14, 2013  -  contact train for tickets.

      See Pictures from a recent show

 
 

    Our purpose or mission is to provide the best interactive audience participatory comical performances which are second to none.  Each show is a new creation which means each show is new and continued fun.  

     Whether we are performing, performing and interacting, doing team improvisation, or providing information or training for others to experiment with this concept of improvisational performing and/or living, we are tapping into the limitless potential - wherever we are, at any moment - on a journey of searching for the true freedom of the individual.

In case you wonder how we can offer so much fun that is different each time, here’s a bit of information about how we do that.

• We improvise, we adapt to conditions and audience response - which audience members appreciate -- causing even more fun to be had by everyone. (So we can adapt to difficult conditions or circumstances.)
• We customize each performance.
• We adapt to audience members and the mood of the audience as a whole.
• We’re so adaptable that we don’t have just certain periods where audience members can interact with us, we’re ready to engage at a moments notice.   All audience members can interact with us all the time.  
• We’re so much fun that we seldom have hecklers; and if someone does start to heckle, we work them into the performance in such a way that the performance continues to be fun for all audience members and may in fact be enhanced.
• When we make a mistake, we build on that and turn it into more fun -- sometimes this helps make a performance even better and more unique than it would have been otherwise.  This builds huge rapport with audience members.

      We produce shows where the audience is totally invested in the experience.  The stage is the entire environment which is transformed into comical fun.

Our style is improvisational which is different from other companies.  Other groups tend to have part script and part improvisational performance; there is interaction with audience members but for limited periods of time.  We, instead of having a performance depending on the vision of a director, let the team of performers provide their best interpretation and support for other members of the team.  The fluidity of the show then fits the needs of the night and audience, allowing performers the flexibility to provide, at a moments notice, their best efforts.
 

  Why should you care?  If you want a traditional theatrical experience, then there is a certain experience you will expect.  Most of us come from this background where we have had much success.  The play is over there or up there and the audience is over here observing.  Interacting or changing what has been pre-determined may prove difficult.  There is no doubt that this is a wonderful art form.  We don't want to compete with this; we just love to do something entirely different which is more of an exaggeration of real life.  Reality is over-rated; whatever is true is what you want of a situation.  If the whole world is a stage, let's have a party and find the joy that is everywhere.
 

    We do not live in a plug and play world.  All the best plans often go astray.  Whether you like it or not very little of our lives are scripted and we end up getting through the best we can by making it up as we go along.  You can plan all you want and determine what people will do and enjoy but when you hit the deck and the action begins, everything changes.  Actors prepare so that the performance goes on regardless what happens on that stage.  Our performers prepare for whatever might happen not only among themselves but with the audience whom we consider to be on stage with us.

     No one can quite predict what will happen, which is where a total improvisational/interactive style comes to the rescue.  Audience members are given an experience which is deeper and better than elsewhere because they have participated in a fun way.  There is no way we can get enough of anything that is fun. 

     We are now ready to expand into new territory both geographically as well as artistically.  We are ready to transport an audience to another time and place as soon as they enter the room.  We love to get help from people who love wild ideas full of energy.  For details on this contact me, Herb Otter, Producer.
 
 
 
 

Improv For Your Life  :Team Building

We live in a world where few people are really paying attention. We as a society are lost in our own world whether one we created or through some sort of modern instrument whether it is TV, the Internet, a hand held or another "communicative" devise.  Sadly it affects what goes on in public and even sadder what goes on in the every day work world.  It does not matter what social order or age category, or whether it is in product creation or customer service or the consumer himself.  Regrettably, lack of focus happens even with the artist and the performer. Business and society suffer from lack of attention, following a linear path regardless of its failure to be of any good, and not daring to think outside of a predetermined box, if there is any thinking at all.  There is a lack of concern for others and increased anger which we have all noticed everywhere.  Improv is one of the cures that can counter this trend.  Within a short period of time, participants can experience the lost arts of paying attention, being in the moment and experiencing the wonder and joy of life as it transforms right in front of them.  Improv can be a way of life and a way for business.  Teaching improvisational skills and improvisational comedy to non performers is an extremely useful business tool in team building, improved communication, creative thinking, and much more.  Having fun and laughing is a most effective way of learning and having any organization function.  Contact us; we can accomplish a lot in a short period of time.  

 

The Murder Mysteries: 

Let our experienced company of professional actors transport you into a realm of murder. Watch or become a part of a fun filled afternoon or evening of entertainment one could die for, with laughter as a deadly weapon. To paraphrase Alfred Hitchcock: "Murder can be a pleasant experience even for the victim, as long as all those involved behave as ladies and gentlemen".
Please note:  We can provide shows with actors or we can provide shows that involve only you and your group as the performers (we call these second type of shows "guided" since we are generally there only to guide your "actors"); or we could provide a combination of the two type of shows.  We have guided plays with as few as 20 characters and as many as 60.

If you think you might want to handle the details yourself, we can provide "guided" mysteries with instructions for your party or event. 

Public Shows

The French Manor(Poconos) South Sterling, Pennsylvania
Show:  C S I North Pole

November 15-17, 2013, Friday-Sunday

http://www.thefrenchmanor.com/mystery.html   877-720-6090
A weekend Murder Mystery where everyone has a part!!!

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 Vineyard at Hershey - Middletown Pennsylvania - Next Show: Summer 2013

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                     In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania   

     The Pride of the Susquehanna Riverboat 

               This riverboat is on City Island in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

                                                   Next Show : June 14, 2013  For Tickets

          717-234-6500 

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Comical Murder Mysteries aboard the dinner/paddle boat, the Black Eyed Susan - in Canton, near Fells Point & the Baltimore Inner Harbor    (see recent article from the Baltimore Examiner including a video from one of our trips)

Next show: 

 Friday June 21, 2013 For Tickets

Black-Eyed Susan Murder Mysteries on Facebook 

 

Open Door Cafe - 410-838-4393 - 528 Baltimore Pike, Bel Air, MD 21014

Next Show: Saturday June 22, 2013

The Comedies: 

Pure improv, this is the essence of what we do. This full length show is based solely on audience suggestions. 

 Wacky Wait Staff

    Want something unusual and hilarious at your next banquet or dinner party.  Hire the Wacky Wait Staff.  What may appear to be normal restaurant or hotel workers are in reality comic performers ready to bring havoc to any social gathering.  

 

     THE NEW PROJECT

   We have created a new show which takes the best elements of murder mystery, improvisation, and interactive performance.  Think of the shows such as Tony and Tina's Wedding orThe 80's Prom and put it in the age of pirates and you have our show The Wedding of Pirates.  

We are perfect for sales meetings, lectures, demonstrations, parties, public events, private events, and for anything you make up and any space you provide.