Lucille Ball Little Theatre To Present ‘Arsenic And Old Lace’
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After more than a month of rehearsals and general prep time, Todd Pullan and his assembled cast are ready to open their production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" this weekend.
Under the direction of Pullan, artistic director, the production will be staged at the Lucille Ball Little Theatre beginning with opening night on Friday and running into next weekend.
The 1941 classic play presents the kind of dark comedy that the Little Theatre has been known to stage in the past. Written by Joseph Kesselring, it revolves around the Brewster family, which is descended from the original Brewster family that immigrated to the Americas aboard the "Mayflower," but is now composed of insane homicidal maniacs.
Pullan said the play has presented a number of challenges on practically every front, but he is confident in the abilities of his cast and crew to pull off the demanding script and scene changes.
"I have a mixture of seasoned actors and people who are new to the stage, but everyone is equally devoted to making this the best show possible," he said. "It was really tough to cast this show because we don't have a lot of people coming out for auditions anymore, so I was able to cast about half the show through auditions and the other half from networking out in the community. But it's coming together and I'm hoping for a great opening."
Pullan acknowledged that some of the more challenging aspects of prepping the show have come in the form of set design and costuming, though the bulk of these issues have more or less resolved themselves.
"It's funny because when you open the script it says that it takes place in the 'present day,' although that was referring to the 1940s and things have obviously changed a lot since then," Pullan said in a previous interview. "From a directorial standpoint the script is challenging because it's 80 pages of very tiny text, so it might as well be 160 pages. And from a set design and costuming standpoint we have to transport our stage and cast back into the Victorian era, so everything has to match the decor and fashion from the time period and that's challenging as well."
The production will be staged at 7:30 p.m. on Friday; Saturday; Friday, Nov. 18; and Saturday, Nov. 19. A 2 p.m. matinee will be staged on Sunday, Nov. 20.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the Little Theatre box office at 483-1095 or online at lucilleballlittletheatre.org.
For more information on "Arsenic and Old Lace" and the other upcoming productions to be staged at the Little Theatre, visit lucilleballlittletheatre.org.