“Play parties” in L.A. are gatherings for participants in “the lifestyle” to have consensual sex — often with a creative twist. (Illustration by Chloe Zola)
BOBBING AT A DOCK SOMEWHERE IN L.A. COUNTY, the main salon of a 100-foot yacht is packed shoulder-to-shoulder with fifty partiers in crimson crushed-velvet gowns, sheer slipdresses, and tuxes. After discreetly climbing aboard — the ship’s owners don’t want their vessel publicly associated with tonight’s event — they’ve left their phones and their government identities at the door.
Their noms de guerre are written in sharpie on nametags attached to their costumes: “Ram Dat-ASS,” “Dr. Pierce N. Boundrys,” and “Detective Inspect-Her-Cunt.” On this boat, they are gold mine heiresses, assassins, detectives. Out in the “real world,” they are medical professionals, screenwriters, actors, and elementary school teachers.
They’re here, in part, for a murder mystery cruise. The setup is that the boat’s owner, the heiress “Genevieve Evening,” died at sea exactly one year ago, and the guests are supposed to find her will and her murderer’s identity. But the whodunnit is something of an afterthought compared to the night’s true purpose.
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