Arsenic and Old Lace

By Joseph Kesselring

Directed by Laurie A. Wolverton
October 16, 17 and 18, 1980
Lee Hall Auditorium, Mississippi State University

Featuring – Margaret E. Anderson, David D. Cook, Richard L. Crick, Lloyd Eric Donaldson, Diane Ellis, Gary Jackson, Howard N. Lee, Peggy Brown-Myers, John M. Sullivan, Charles H. Thomas, Reggie Wade, Don Vaughan, Robert Wolverton, and David York

Arsenic and Old Lace centers around the sweet old Brewster sisters, beloved in their genteel Brooklyn neighborhood for their many charitable acts. One charity which the ladies don't advertise is their ongoing effort to permit lonely bachelors to die with smiles on their faces - by serving said bachelors elderberry wine spiked with arsenic!

When the sisters' drama-critic nephew Mortimer stumbles onto their secret, he is understandably put out - especially since he has just married the lovely Elaine Harper. Given the homicidal tendencies of his aunts, the sinister activities of his escaped-convict older brother Jonathan and the disruptive behavior of younger brother Teddy - who is convinced that he's really Theodore Roosevelt, and runs around the house yelling “CHAAAAARGGGE” - Mortimer isn't keen on starting a family with his new bride. “Insanity runs in my family,” he explains. “It practically gallops.” Further complications ensue when the murderous Jonathan Brewster arrives home, with his sniveling accomplice Dr. Einstein in tow.

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