Audience members squirmed in their chairs as Fran Baron read of a long list of horrific acts perpetrated by Jack the Ripper.

The gross out moments were courtesy of Delvena Theatre Company, which visited Southworth Library on Friday evening for a performance of “Who Was Jack the Ripper?” The show was performed by three actors, Baron, Lynne Moulton and Joseph Zamparelli, who performed a variety of characters throughout the evening.

The show was part performance, part interactive murder mystery as the audience interviewed suspects during the last half of the show in an attempt to find the real Jack.

The show was presented by the Dartmouth Library Foundation, which holds two fundraisers a year – one in spring and one in fall.

“This is the third time the Delvena Theatre Company have come to perform,” said Director of Libraries Lynne Antunes.

The theater company has previously performed “Meet Julia Child” and “Lizzie Borden and the Forty Whacks.” Antunes said that audiences have enjoyed the group, and they have already been scheduled for a show next October based on the Salem witch trials.

The Dartmouth Library Foundation, which was established in 2005, is an organization that helps raise funds for the library. The original impetus for the group was to help raise funds for the construction of a new library in North Dartmouth.

Antunes said the Foundation is working toward a regular schedule of programs.

“The Friends of the Library have their winter art film series. People look forward to it. They’ve built up a following. The Foundation is trying to have regular programs like that,” she said.

About 45 people gathered in the second floor of the library to solve the mystery of who was assailing unwitting streetwalkers.

“Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in London in 1888,” said actor Zamparelli. “He killed at least five women. However, there are theories that it was more. The number of suspects was huge. Ultimately, there were 400 suspects under consideration.”

Baron wrote the script, which required extensive research on the crimes. She writes screenplays for most of group’s shows in addition to producing and performing in them.

Zamparelli said that, after Baron develops a script, the group will gather together for a read-through and fine-tune the show.

“When it started out, [Baron and Moulton] were doing full stage productions in downtown Boston,” he said. “Over the decades we’ve branched off to do more ‘edu-tainment.’ They’re stories with historical settings that we do in educational and entertaining ways.”

He said he enjoys performing in libraries because the facilities will often prepare audiences for the subject matter by offering special displays of books relevant to the topic. Southworth Library had a display on Jack the Ripper leading up to the event.

Zamparelli said that “Who Was Jack the Ripper?” is one of his favorite shows to perform.

“I get to play four very different characters back to back. It’s fun. It’s like an acting exercise,” he said. “No one really knows who Jack the Ripper was. It was never decided during his lifetime, and, at this point, it probably will never be.”