Theatre Central’s winter mainstage play, “Arsenic and Old Lace” will be opening Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Naperville Central’s Auditorium.
The play is set in the early 1940s and involves the Brewster sisters, who kill sad old men who are lonely with poisoned wine, thinking that they’re acting out of goodwill. The play follows Mortimer, one of their nephews, as he discovers their secret.
Despite the play’s “old timey” feel, it still functions as a comedy, according to Theatre Central Director Susie Johnson.
“It’s not so much a whodunit as [it’s] just fun,”Johnson said. So even though it’s an old fashioned piece, it still has a lot of physical humor in it and a lot of character humor.”
Despite its age, the play still holds true to being entertaining.
“I think it’s good to go back and revisit older plays,” said Johnson. “It’s almost a different genre.”
Sophomore Ethan Chan plays Mr. Gibbs, a bitter and angry old man.
“I like the fact that I get to play a role that’s different from roles that I played previously, because Gibbs is like an older man,” said Chan. “I haven’t played that type of role before. I’m very excited for the show.”
Johnson credits the show’s positive energy to the students on set.
“This show is what we call a box set, where there’s one set, it’s basically three walls, and it just stays on stage the whole time,” said Lucy Ross, the show’s assistant stage manager. “So we have nothing that moves set-wise on stage. There are a couple of things that move prop wise, but lighting is mostly up and down.”
The play is showing Feb. 26, 27, and 28 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for students and seniors and $10 for general admission.