YCP TheaterWorks Stages Arsenic and Old Lace

The farcical black comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring will be performed at the Van Cortlandtville School Theater in Mohegan Lake, directly across from the Cortlandt Town Shopping Center on two Saturdays, May 3 at 8 pm and May 10 at 2 pm and 8 pm. and two Sundays, May 4 and 11 at 2 pm. Tickets are $18, adults; $15, seniors and students. Tickets can be purchased online through PayPal at a discount, $17/$14, by going to our website www.YCPTW.org or at the door. Group rates are available.

In 1941, New Yorkers were looking for some entertainment to take their minds off the war in Europe and the growing fear that America would be pulled into it. On January 10, Broadway gave them exactly what they were looking for in the form of a hilarious new play by Joseph Kesselring, Arsenic and Old Lace. The play became an immediate critical and popular success, running for 1,444 performances. It also became a hit in England in 1942 as theatergoers who were suffering through London post-blitz lined up for tickets. In 1944, Hollywood produced a film version starring Cary Grant that became a huge box office success.
 
The play, a clever combination of the farcical and the macabre, centers on two elderly sisters, Abby and Martha Brewster (Kathy Colonna and Camille Kaiser) who are famous in their Brooklyn neighborhood for their numerous acts of charity. Unfortunately, however, their charity includes poisoning lonely old men who come to their home looking for lodging. The two women are assisted in their crimes by their mentally challenged nephew (Edward Fonzo)) who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt.

Matters get complicated when a second nephew, Mortimer (Steven Bendler)), a theater critic, discovers the murders. A third nephew, Jonathan (Joel Karpoff) appears, having just escaped from a mental institution with his alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein (Steve Schnapper). The remainder of compelling characters include Heather Campbell as Elaine, Mortimer’s betrothed, John Timmel, Kate Gleeson and Melody Hockley as police officers.  Jacqueline Smith plays both Mrs. Harper, Elaine’s mother, and the police lieutenant and Marshall Moseley portrays Witherspoon, the head of Happy Dale Sanitarium. In his adroit mixture of comedy and mayhem, Kesselring satirizes the charitable impulse as he pokes fun at the conventions of the theater.

The play will be staged by experienced director and actor Richard Troiano who has directed over 26 shows, including YCP TheaterWorks’ The Glass Menagerie and On Golden Pond. Other directing credits include Jake’s Women, The House of Blue Leaves, A Chorus Line, Working, Lost in Yonkers, Gypsy and Our Town.

For further information, call (914) 261-9135 or visit our website at www.YCPTW.org