Arsenic and Old lace (created by Joseph Kesselring) is a long, three-act play that combines farce, dark comedy, and a bit of murder. Arsenic and Old Lace takes place in the Brewster home set in Brooklyn, New York. The home is inhabited by spinsters Abby (Areil Mullis) Martha Brewster (Paige Blumke), and their nephew Teddy Brewster, who believes himself to be President Teddy Roosevelt. The play begins with Abby serving tea to her nephew Teddy and Dr. Harper, whose daughter “Elaine" is in a relationship with Teddy’s brother: Mortimer Brewster (Travis Smith). Mortimer later arrives at the Brewster home and informs the two aunts of his engagement to Elaine (Hailey Dennison). Soon after the big announcement, the dark secret of the aunts becomes known. Mortimer had discovered a dead body inside of the window seat, flipping his world upside down. It is from this moment that the family begins to experience unexpected twists and turns filled with laughs and thrills.

As someone who has previously been involved with theatre, I was excited to see the Saint Cloud Theatre Company here at SCHS’ rendition of the play, as the play has been around for many years. I would describe the overall acting in this play as quite satisfactory. All the actors did an excellent job at portraying their roles. More specifically, I was impressed with how well the actors played off one another. For example, Travis Smith (Mortimer Brewster) and Hailey Dennison (Elain Harper). Their characters are in a serious relationship and had recently gotten engaged. However, when Mortimer discovers that his aunts had been committing murders, Mortimer shuns Elaine away in order to protect her from his family’s secret. Whenever these two came on stage, they never failed to make me, or the audience laugh. The difficulties of the two characters' relationship added a vast amount of charisma to the show.

In contrast, I did feel there were moments in the production that did not have much to offer. I feel as if the constant need for corny overused jokes was a tad unnecessary. For an example, the character Teddy Brewster and the comedy sequence of Teddy yelling “charge!” and running up the stairs became overused and lost its charm, making a lot of parts where his character is featured dull. Nonetheless, Evan Smith (Teddy Brewster) wonderfully expressed his character the way he was instructed to do so. It was very clear to me that all the actors that were featured in this play were determined and noticeably content with having the ability to perform this play in front of their peers.  

However, the production would not have the fine qualities it possesses without the help of the technical crews. Often, technical crews and their work contains symbolism, better understanding of the setting, and more. I found the set constructed by the carpentry crew to be highly innovative, and realistic. As the play was set in 1941, there were diminutive details that illustrated the time period of the play, such as: vintage wallpaper and furniture old phones, etc. I specifically enjoyed the addition of swing doors separating the living/dining room from the kitchen.  

As one could imagine, the wardrobe used for specific characters could potentially influence the audience’s views toward certain characters. When examining the costumes of each character, it became clear that the wardrobe crew spent many hours designing and personalizing each outfit to fit each character. Not only could costumes, along with the color scheme a character wears change one’s view of said character, but they can showcase who a character is. I profoundly recall the outfits of the character Elain Harper.  

While Elaine was not featured in every scene, I was able to obtain a quick understanding of the kind of person she was. The scene in which Elain is introduced to the audience, she is featured in a pink polka-dotted blouse matched with a pair of blue slacks. Almost immediately, I was able to recognize that Elaine was determined and well put together. Another example is the teal dress she wore. The dress showed that Elaine was sure of what she wanted, is sassy, and has a great amount of spunk.

Kudos must be given to Alex Moore and Scott Schoonover, as well as the talented actors and technicians that participated in the wonderous production that was ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’.