Tyler Floryan of Plains Township, center, portrays Mortimer Brewster, a nephew dismayed to learn his Aunt Abby (Jennifer Frey Abdalla of Moosic) and Aunt Martha (Brenda Fager of Dalton) have been poisoning elderly men in Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre’s production of ‘Arsenic and Old Lace.’
Angel Berlane Mulcahy | On My Cue Photography
Dark comedy runs May 9 through May 18
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‘The way I get into character, I don’t pretend to be Teddy Roosevelt,’ said Jason Narcoonis of Blakely. ‘I pretend to be a 6-year-old pretending to be Teddy Roosevelt.’ Narcoonis has the role of Teddy Brewster in Little Theatre’s production of ‘Arsenic & Old Lace.’
Angel Berlane Mulcahy | On My Cue Photography
“Insanity runs in my family,” Mortimer Brewster says. “It practically gallops.”
If that remark makes you curious, you’re welcome to meet two of the character’s craziest relatives — his elderly aunts — when you visit Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre May 9 through May 18 to see “Arsenic & Old Lace.”
Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha aren’t just crazy. They’re sweet, and polite — and still admonishing grown-up Mortimer.
“I’ll say to my adult nephew, ‘Behave yourself. You are far too old to be having an outburst,’ ” said Jennifer Frey Abdalla of Moosic, who plays Aunt Abby.
As for the habit, or hobby, that Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha have of poisoning elderly men, well ….
“They don’t consider themselves murderers,” Frey Abdalla said. “They see it as a way of helping lonely old men find peace.”
“When they do the deed, they believe they’re doing the Lord’s work,” said Eric Lutz, who is directing the play.
Years ago, director Lutz had the chance to portray Mortimer, and decided the character “goes a little crazy himself. He’s so frenetic when he finds the first body.”
Still, Mortimer seems to have a better handle on reality than, say, his brother Teddy does.
Teddy likes to blow a bugle and feels that he is an incarnation of Teddy Roosevelt. “The way I get into character, I don’t pretend to be Teddy Roosevelt,” Jason Narcoonis of Blakely said. “I pretend to be a 6-year-old pretending to be Teddy Roosevelt. He’s playing pretend, but he believes it.”
“Mortimer is the only truly normal person in the family,” Narcoonis said. “The straight man in a room full of nuts.”
“He loves his aunts dearly and has always been supportive of Teddy,” Tyler Floryan of Plains Township described Mortimer. But he’s going to have problems with his fiancee as “he’s trying to cover everything up.”
In addition to trying to conceal the murders, Mortimer finds himself in a quandary. If he marries his fiancee, any children they have might inherit the craziness gene. How should he proceed?
The play is often described as a dark comedy, and “It’s equal parts darkness and comedy,” said Lutz, adding that while the time frame is the 1940s, the house where Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha live is “very Victorian-esque”
Show times for “Arsenic & Old Lace” are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through May 18 at the historic Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, 537 North Main St., Wilkes-Barre. Tickets may be ordered online at ltwb.org.