WBS "Arsenic and Old Lace"
Continues Through Sunday

Mortimer Brewster (Mitch Resler) discovers a dead body in the window seat of his two spinster aunt's home.    Arab Today photos by Dwight Hayes

October 9, 2009
Performances of The Whole Backstage production of Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic and Old Lace" begins Friday night at the WBS Dot Moore Theatre.  The play is directed by Rich Resler with assistance by April Isom.

One of the zaniest collections of characters ever assembled in one play make audiences both shudder and roar with laughter in Arsenic and Old Lace. This play of hilarity and homicide tells the story of the wacky Brewster family members whose love for charity has taken an alarmingly murderous turn.

Theater critic Mortimer Brewster is visiting his spinster aunts – the sweet, puttering Abby and Martha. When Mortimer finds a dead body in the window seat of their home he at first thinks the murderer is his brother Teddy, who most of his time under the impression that he is really Teddy Roosevelt and that the Panama Canal runs through the cellar of his home. Mortimer soon learns his aunts are serving up a lethal brew of arsenic, strychnine, cyanide, and elderberry wine to elderly male visitors, and are quite nonchalant about doing so.

Mortimer’s brother, Jonathan, appears and struggles to retain his rightful title as America’s most prolific criminal. He is accompanied by Doctor Einstein, whose job it is to surgically change Jonathan's face every time he has completed one of his crimes.

When all these people get together on a September afternoon, in a quiet house on a quiet street in Brooklyn, the repercussions almost unhinge Mortimer – the one sane member of the Brewster clan – and completely befuddle the Brooklyn police force.

7 p.m. evening performances are scheduled for October 9, 10, 15, 16, & 17.  2 p.m. Matinee performances are scheduled for October 11 & 18.

Cast for the play are:

Abby Brewster - Jane Kohl
Martha Brewster - Julie Oliver
Mortimer Brewster - Mitch Resler
Elaine Harper - Stephanie McWhorter
Teddy Brewster - Andy Hunter
Jonathan Brewster - Jon Brown
Dr. Einstein - Bill Moss
Officer O'Hara - Ben Whitehead
Officer Brophy - Alan Segers
Officer Klein - Jonathan Chisolm
Lieutenant Rooney - Nicholas Hayes
Rev. Dr. Harper - Don Clemons
Mr. Gibbs - Jason Friend
Dr. Witherspoon - Ed Shirley

For additional information call the Whole Backstage office at (256) 582-7469 or email arsenic@wholebackstage.com