Set actors and an audience

I am planning an event with teenagers that I'm not sure will interact and play the parts. I would like to have people come specifically to be participants for the murder mystery while most are just observers of the "show" but still try to determine the "who did it" part of the mystery. Would this work?

My response:

What you are suggesting sounds a bit like the Mysteries-on-the-Net games.

In those games, ten or so people play the suspects, and everyone else is a detective who is trying to solve the murder.

Click here to learn more about Mysteries-on-the-Net.