An 1820s British portrait hanging inside the Oklahoma City Museum of Art is about to become the centerpiece of a fictional crime scene. On Thursday, October 22, the museum will host Murder Mystery Night: The Mysterious Death of Kitty Packe, an adults-only interactive evening built around the museum's own painting of the same name, complete with fictional suspects, a ticketed Case File of clues, and a staged arrest inside the museum lobby.
According to KGOU, the event is designed for guests 21 and older and runs in two tiers. A $40 VIP Case Briefing for members (or $55 for non-members) takes place from 5 to 6 p.m. on the museum's Roof Terrace, offering a cocktail hour, investigation intelligence ahead of the mystery, and direct conversations with the story's lead detective while overlooking the downtown skyline. General investigation tickets cost $10 for members and $25 for non-members, with those guests entering the second-floor galleries at 6 p.m. to begin piecing together the case.
The plot, according to the museum's event listing, imagines Kitty Packe hosting a summer celebration at the museum before being discovered dead the next morning — a crime the storyline places squarely within the museum's own walls. Every attendee becomes a suspect as the investigation unfolds, and the fictional culprit is arrested at 7:25 p.m. in the museum lobby before the galleries close for the night at 8 p.m.
The Real Woman Behind the Painting
The portrait driving the fictional plot depicts a real historical figure. Kitty Packe, born Kitty Jenkyn Hort, sat for the painting in 1820, according to Austenprose; she married British Member of Parliament Charles William Packe in 1823. The oil-on-canvas painting measures 58 by 45 inches and carries the museum's collection identifier 2001.007, per KGOU's event details.
The artist behind the canvas, Sir William Beechey, was a prominent British Neoclassical portraitist who served as official portrait painter to Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, according to Sunrays Creations. Beechey, who lived from 1753 to 1839, was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and received royal patronage.
A Local Donor's Legacy
The museum acquired the Kitty Packe portrait in 2001 through a purchase funded by Angie Hester, a local benefactor whose ties to OKCMOA ran deep. Hester was a University of Oklahoma art history graduate, a former county school superintendent, and a lifetime museum trustee, according to her obituary published by Legacy.com.
That downtown facility, the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center at 415 Couch Drive, opened in March 2002 following a $40 million private capital campaign anchored by a $14.5 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, per the museum's own account of its history. The building's debut marked a milestone in downtown Oklahoma City's broader urban renaissance at the time.
From WPA Gallery to Downtown Anchor
OKCMOA in its current form dates back to 1989, when the Oklahoma Art Center and the Oklahoma Museum of Art merged, according to Wikipedia. The Oklahoma Art Center itself traced its roots to a 1930s Works Progress Administration Experimental Gallery, giving the institution a lineage stretching back nearly a century before it settled into its present downtown home.
Today the museum presents its permanent collection.
Balancing Ticketed Events With Free Access
Murder Mystery Night is presented as a ticketed event at OKCMOA.
The museum's calendar includes public programs and ticketed events.
Guests with questions about Murder Mystery Night can consult the event listing.
