Cast for 'Arsenic and Old Lace' announced

This morning Mrs. Susan Rettew, director of the 2016 fall production of Arsenic and Old Lace, announced the cast list. With approximately 20 students trying out for a 15 person production there is bound to be some disappointment.

The cast of Arsenic and Old Lace

"It is extremely difficult to cast any show because of the talent we have at L-S," Rettew says.

Rettew noted that the characters must have a certain reactive quality to be a successful performer in the show, and she is confident the cast she assembled is up to the task.

The cast who will perform this show from November 10-12 in the L-S Performing Arts Center is:

Cast List for Arsenic and Old Lace

In order of appearance:

Plot Summary 

Arsenic and Old Lace. A seemingly random combination of two objects but in actuality the Lampeter-Strasburg Thespian Society's fall play.

The 1940s story of a newly engaged young man uncovering the dark secrets that reside in his crooked family’s past will take center stage November 10-12.

The story begins with Mortimer Brewster proposing to his neighbor, Reverend Dr. Harper’s daughter, Elaine Harper. She excitedly accepts, so Mortimer leaves on a trip to share the happy news with his family. While visiting his two aunts, Abby and Martha Brewster, and Uncle Teddy, he discovers that his highly regarded and beloved by all family, are crazed yet proficient serial killers.

The surprisingly comedic play also features the outrageous delusions of Teddy Brewster who believes he is actually Teddy Roosevelt. He believes he is digging graves for and burying the bodies of his courageous soldiers that have patriotically died in the Spanish-American war, when in reality he is really just an accessory to murder by burying his sisters’ victims.

Another aspect of this year’s play that makes it so fascinating is the fact that these sisters aren’t killing out of cold blood. They believe that they are doing their treasured community good by killing off unmarried, single men.

Rettew, a true lover of murder mysteries, says she picked Arsenic and Old Lace because she previously directed the play at Penn Manor, and “felt that the cast list fit the talents and abilities of our students”. As a director, she is looking for students willing to perform that are “...reliable and can learn lines quickly.”

If you have seen the Cary Grant movie version of Arsenic and Old Lace then you will be surprised to discover the theater production ends very differently. How differently? You will have to attend to find out.

--Hannah Stauffer, LS News reporter