ArsenicOldLace

The Dorset Players' were proud to present the first production of their 82nd season, "Arsenic and Old Lace". American playwright Joseph Kesselring’s farcical dark comedy revolved around Mortimer Brewster, a theatre-hating drama critic, and his crazy family which included two spinster aunts who had taken to poisoning lonely old men with glasses of homemade elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide and then burying them in the cellar.

Local talent Peter D'Arcy Langstaff stepped into Mortimer Brewster's shoes, a role made famous by Cary Grant in the film adaptation. Elizabeth Karet and Maureen Dwyer played Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha, the sweet innocent sisters who while helping the elderly to their graves, would never "stoop to telling a fib". Crowd pleaser Chris Restino returned to the Dorset stage as Mortimer's psychotic brother, Jonathan Brewster, along with his surgical sidekick Dr. Einstein, played by M. Wightman. Teddy Brewster, who believed he was the late great President Roosevelt, was played by Patrick Schelle. Christy Vogel once again treaded the boards as Mortimer's on-again off-again fiance Elaine Harper while Bob Davidson, last seen in "The Secret Garden", played her father Reverend Harper. Kevin O'Toole added another show to his extensive resume assuming the role of Officer O'Hara, a bumbling cop and would-be playwright. Rounding out Brooklyn's finest police force were Chris Montgomery, Jim Raymond, and Patrick Monroe. Throwing in a potential poison victim, played by Bob Bushnell, and the superintendant of a mental institution, played by Tracy Hughes, you had all the ingredients needed for a truly remarkable show.

Proudly sponsored by Matt Waite Excavation, Bickford Real Estate, and (as fortune would have it) Brewster Funeral & Cremation, performances were held at the Dorset Playhouse on Cheney Road in Dorset, VT at October 9-11 and October 15-18.