The third time’s the charm for the Montgomery County Middle School FCCLA chapter on March 1.

The chapter’s Murder Mystery Dinner Theater was finally held at the school’s multipurpose room after it was called twice due to inclement weather. It was titled “A Night of Mystery & Mayhem” and was produced by seventh-grade students Brady Falloon and Ethan Hogue.

Brady and Ethan were part of the cast that included students Julia Elder, Anna Johnson, Aurora Gibson, Jett Beattie, Carl Johnson, Cash Reagan, Bella Nichols, Emily Caldwell and Alaina Sprugeon and MCMS Principal Kista River.

Before the show, participants enjoyed a dinner that included spaghetti and meatballs, chicken fettuccine alfredo, green beans, salad, garlic bread and dessert. Proceeds of the event went to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.

“We had over 800 items going to Cardinal Glennon to help families,” Brady said. “We had toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap. So when their children get sick and go to Cardinal Glennon, they have supplies to stay there.”

The mystery play was part of the FCCLA STAR project by Brady and Ethan. Two months ago, they qualified for state competition by earning gold honors for their project at the Region IV STAR Events contest on Jan. 27 at Mark Twain High School.

Brady said he was thrilled that the play was finally held at MCMS, which called off school for several days this winter due to two winter storms that hit the Montgomery County area.

“We planned it out and we wanted it to be done on Jan. 18,” Brady said. “Then, it snowed, so it moved back to Feb. 22. Then, it moved to March 1. It just got moved back a lot, so I wasn’t confident that it was going to turn out the way I wanted it to. But everything went great.”

The play lasted about an hour. Cast members prepared for a week for the event.

“I enjoyed it,” Ethan said. “It was a lot of work from after school to before school. Whenever we can work on it, we do it. It turned out pretty good.”

Brady played Coach J, who was named one of the suspects of the murder of Mrs. Rover, who was played by River. Ethan played one of the detectives.

Audience members got to participate by figuring out who killed Mrs. Rover. After the detectives gathered all of the clues, they found out it was Coach J who was the murderer.

“(FCCLA adviser) Mrs. Becky (Gilbert) talked to us about a Murder Mystery that happened in Branson,” Brady said. “We wanted to do a Murder Mystery with murder, but the school wouldn’t allow it, so we had to kill Mrs. River and she would wake up at the end. We tried to make it where nobody knew until the end, but I got caught pretty early. Everybody knew it.”

Brady and Ethan joined the FCCLA last year. They were among seven members who traveled to Seattle, Wash., to participate in the National Leadership Conference last summer. They qualified for nationals by placing first for their event management project, which was Pink Out Week at MCMS.

Now, Brady and Ethan are preparing to go to the FCCLA State Leadership Conference, which will be held from March 16-18 at the Lake of the Ozarks. A total of 17 MCMS students will be heading to state.

“I like going to places,” Ethan said. “I like how Brady and I can give back to our communities by what we did at the play, sending stuff off to Cardinal Glennon.”