Springville Playhouse offers ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’

r In time for the Halloween season, the Springville Playhouse is presenting the classic and hilarious tale of two aunts and their special elderberry wine: “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

This black comedy will be presented Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 29 at Merit Academy, located at 1440 W. Center in Springville. Shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at $10 for general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens are available at the door.

“Arsenic and Old Lace” by Joseph Kesselring originally played on Broadway in the 1940s and was later made into a film starring Cary Grant. The story centers on a New York theater critic, Mortimer Brewster, who in the midst of his wedding plans discovers that his charming elderly aunts have a secret involving lonely old men and a supply of strychnine and arsenic. Add in a crazy uncle who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt and a brother who shows up unexpectedly with an alcoholic accomplice and a body to hide and things quickly go awry.

The Springville Playhouse production features Arlene McGregor and Kathy Llewellyn as the spinster aunts Abby and Martha Brewster. The role of Mortimer Brewster is played by Paul McNiven and Teddy Brewster is played by Niels Adair. Martin Schetselaar takes the role of Jonathan Brewster and Aaron Evensen plays Herman Einstein.

Other cast members are Rachel Gathro, Zach Hjorth, Joseph Barker, Gavin Gifford, Carter Peterson, Jon Haws, Ted Nelson and Karl Young.