Arsenic and Old Lace

By Joseph Kesselring

Directed by Kim Doyle

The play is a farcical black comedy revolving around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts' victims); and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein (a character based on real-life gangland surgeon Joseph Moran) to conceal his identity and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff (a self-referential joke, as the part was originally played by Karloff). The film adaptation follows the same basic plot, with a few minor changes. It is customary, after the cast takes several curtain calls, for the final one to finish with the "murder victims" (often well-known local personalities) entering from the basement and joining the cast for the final bow.

Produced by Beaver Dam Area Community Theatre at Beaver Dam Area Community Theatre, 219 N. Spring St., Beaver Dam

Performances: March 9-18, 2012

Performance Times: March 9,10,15,16 & 17 at 7:00 PM
March 11 & 18 at 2:00 PM
Tickets at Rechek's Food Pride in Beaver Dam, 609 N. Spring St. Unsold tickets will be available at the door.

Ticket Prices: $12 Early Bird Special through February 29 $14 All reserved tickets starting March 1

Call 920-887-7675 for reservations or more information.

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