OHMPAA - Community Theater in the Hills
Arsenic and Old Lace poster

Arsenic and Old Lace

by Joseph Kesselring

Presented April and May 2003 at the Norway Grange
Sponsored by Norway Savings Bank.

Directed by Tom Littlefield.

Originally presented in New York on August 18, 1941, Arsenic and Old Lace is a wild, zany comedy that has lost nothing in the intervening years, just as timely today as it was then.

The play, set in "present day" Brooklyn, featured a family populated by two elderly sisters who, on the surface, were as dear and charming as you would ever want, but had a penchant for bringing single elderly gentlemen into their home and plying them with a particularly potent elderberry wine.

They were aunts to three brothers who were, each in his own way, as eccentric as you would ever want to meet. One, a homicidal maniac, looked just like Boris Karloff and oddly enough was originally played by Boris Karloff. How's that for type casting! Another lived with the delusion that he was actually Teddy Roosevelt reincarnated and reliving Teddy's life as perceived through the study of the original. Sound confusing? The third brother seems somewhat normal and lives a successful life as a drama critic, but is in reality caught up by his family's odd behaviors and forced to bend his own life to accommodate theirs. (Adapted from Tom Littlefield's director's note.)

Arsenic and Old Lace photo
Cast
Dr. Herman Einstein Elton Cole
Officer Brophy Alex Davis
Lieutenant Rooney Michael Davis
Officer Klein Abe Haslett
Abby Brewster Sally Jones
Jonathan Brewster Chris Libby
Mortimer Brewster Jeremiah McDonald
Mr. Gibbs Richard McIntosh and Tom Littlefield
Elaine Harper Savannah Sessions
Officer O'Hara Steve Sessions
Teddy Brewster Eric Teichman
Mr. Witherspoon Dennis Twitchell
Dr. Harper Diane Whitmore
Martha Brewster Alison Whitney
Arsenic and Old Lace photo
Crew
Producers Claire Sessions and Norman Hutchins Jr.
Director Tom Littlefield
Stage manager Diane Whitmore
Props Claire Sessions
Costumes Judi Foster
Lights Norman Hutchins, Jr.
Set construction and painting Claire Sessions, Steve Sessions, Elton Cole, Chris Libby
House manager Kelsey Franklin
Publicity Sheila Rollins
Poster, program, tickets Richard McIntosh
Arsenic and Old Lace photo

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