Arsenic and Old Lace
Performed October 2023
PosterDesign by Arthur Ream
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A Note from the Director Arsenic and Old Lace is a classic Halloween movie that means quite a lot to me and brings back so much nostalgia. Some of my favorite memories are watching this movie each Halloween with my family on a windy night while trick or treaters visit the door.
This is a laugh out loud dark comedy about the two sweetest little old ladies you could ever meet who have a “bad habit” of poisoning lonely strangers with their spiked elderberry wine. Seems innocent enough until their nephew, Mortimer, finds their latest victim in the window seat and embarks on an elaborate night-long adventure to keep his aunt’s out of prison. If that isn’t enough, his long lost mobster brother comes back into town with his own dead body to get rid of and with a cellar full of secrets, this house is no longer the peaceful place it once was. It’s funny how in times where we feel the most overwhelmed, or under the most pressure, dark comedy seems to resonate the best. My father is a grief counselor and its often astounding to people how casually our family can discuss death, grief and the topics that surround the other side. However in this play, we see the Brewsters come face to face with death over and over again and meet it each time with a sense of farce that can only be explained through laughter. We could learn a lot from the Brewster sisters, their love of Teddy, their empathy of others and their undying devotion to serve their community albeit even in their own “peculiarities”. Our students have worked so hard on this production and I cannot begin to describe how proud I am of every single one of them. My heart is also so full at the thought of all of the incredible seniors that are in this production that will be graduating this year and performing their final mainstage show with this play. CHAAAAAAARGE! Benji Braswell |