arsenic and old lace   Directed by Tim Franklin

Co-Director: Katie Holmes


PRODUCTION DATES:  

Fri, November 9th, 2012 - 7:00pm
Sat, November 10th, 2012 - 2:00 & 7:00pm
Sun, November 11th, 2012 - 2:00pm







Characters & Cast: Arsenic and Old Lace

 

  Abby Brewster: (played by Virginia Church) A darling lady in her sixties who poisons elderly men. Abby is the sister of Martha and an aunt to Teddy, Jonathan, and Mortimer.

The Rev. Dr. Harper: (played by Floyd Walker) Minister and father of Elaine.

Teddy Brewster: (played by Gary Wofford) Nephew of Abby and Martha Brewster, Teddy is a man in his forties who thinks that he is Theodore Roosevelt.

Officer Brophy: (played by Stefani Franklin) A police officer.

Officer Klein: (played by Hunter Dotson) A police officer.

Martha Brewster: (played by Tammy Stone) A sweet elderly woman with Victorian charm who poisons elderly men, Martha is the sister of Abby and an aunt to Teddy, Jonathan, and Mortimer.

Elaine Harper: (played by Jacqui Dunaway) An attractive girl in her twenties and Mortimer’s fiancee, Elaine is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Harper. She is surprisingly wise in the ways of the world for a minister's daughter.

Mortimer Brewster: (played by Walker Davis) Nephew of Abby and Martha, Mortimer is a drama critic who is engaged to Elaine. He is a nice man who cares for his aunts.

Mr. Gibbs: (played by TBA) A man who wishes to rent a room from the Brewster sisters.

Jonathan Brewster: (played by Korey Echols) Nephew of Abby and Martha Brewster, Jonathan is a psychopath who has had plastic surgery and now looks like Boris Karloff.

Dr. Einstein: (played by Juan Marin) A plastic surgeon and an alcoholic who is in his fifties, Dr. Einstein has changed Jonathan's face three times.

Officer O'Hara: (played by Darren Gunnels) A police officer, O’Hara is a would-be playwright who pesters Mortimer to read his play.

Lieutenant Roony: (played by Derrick Keator) A tough and dominating police officer.

Mr. Witherspoon: (played by Floyd Walker) The superintendent of Happy Dale Sanitarium. 		 



SYNOPSIS  

Arsenic and Old Lace opens in the living room of the Brewster home, inhabited by two spinster aunts, Abby and Martha Brewster, and their nephew, Teddy. The Reverend Dr. Harper is chatting with Abby about her other nephew, Mortimer, a drama critic who is in love with the reverend’s daughter, Elaine. Soon joining the conversation are two friendly police officers, Brophy and Klein, who have come by (as they often do) to pick up a box for charity from the kindly Brewster sisters. Teddy, who is rather crazy but harmless, believes himself to be Theodore Roosevelt. He charges up the stairs to retrieve the box. The reverend and the policemen leave. Mortimer enters and announces to his aunts that he intends to marry Elaine, whom he is taking to a play that evening.

Things begin to unravel as Mortimer lifts the lid to the window seat. He discovers the dead body of Mr. Hoskins and assumes that Teddy has killed him. However, Abby and Martha tell Mortimer that it was they who poisoned the man with their homemade elderberry wine - and that he is the eleventh (or twelfth, depending on how you count) gentleman they have shared their wine with. The sisters explain that these are charitable acts: they befriend lonely older gentlemen who do not have much to live for and then kill them with elderberry wine laced with arsenic. Meanwhile Teddy is down in the cellar digging what he believes is the Panama Canal but is in reality the latest grave.

Elaine arrives and an excited and worried Mortimer tells her they are not going to the theatre after all. After a brief quarrel, Elaine leaves. Mortimer and Teddy's brother Jonathan arrives. Jonathan, a true maniacal criminal, is accompanied by Dr. Einstein, a plastic surgeon of doubtful character. Dr. Einstein has operated on Jonathan so that he looks like Boris Karloff, the horror film star.

Teddy invites Einstein to join him in the cellar, where he believes he is digging the Panama Canal. Einstein quickly returns and confides to Jonathan that there is a hole large enough to bury Mr. Spenalzo (a man Jonathan recently killed) after everyone goes to bed. Once the lights are out and everyone is supposedly asleep, Teddy goes to the window seat to get Mr. Hoskins. At the same time Jonathan and Einstein go to their car to retrieve Mr. Spenalzo. Both plan on burying the bodies in the cellar.

Several hilarious scenes ensue. Lights blink on and off, bodies are moved from the window seat to the cellar to the car outside, accusations and threats fly back and forth. Due to the commotion at the house, Officer O'Hara stops by to make sure all is well. When he is convinced that everything is alright, he shifts topics and corners Mortimer in a discussion of a play he is writing. Just then, Lieutenant Rooney bursts in and recognizes Jonathan as an escapee from a prison for the criminally insane. Jonathan tells the officers about the bodies in the cellar, but they don't believe him and take him off to prison. Einstein gets away, and Teddy is certified insane and taken to the Happy Dale Sanitarium.

Trying to protect society without sending his aunts to prison, Mortimer ecstatically agrees when his aunts insist on going to Happy Dale with their nephew. The aunts then kindly inform Mortimer that he is actually not a member of the Brewster family. He was an illegitimate child and thus can marry Elaine without fear of passing the Brewster insanity on to his children. Mortimer happily departs, but before the women leave their house, they offer a drink to the head of Happy Dale, Mr. Witherspoon. Witherspoon is a lonely older gentleman, and he gladly accepts a glass of the spiked elderberry wine. . . .