Stagg Drama Department Presents Fall Play 'Arsenic And Old Lace'

PALOS HILLS, IL -- The Stagg High School Drama Department will present the classic comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 1 through Nov. 3, in Stagg’s performing arts center at 8015 W. 111th St. Tickets cost $7 for adults and $6 for students and seniors.

“Arsenic and Old Lace” was written in 1939 by Joseph Kessel. The play follows Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper reporter who has just gotten engaged. While visiting his sweet spinster aunts, Abby and Matrha, to tell them the happy news, he discovers that have been poisoning lonely old men for years. He suspected that madness ran in his family, but now it’s confirmed.

His brother, who thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt, returns on the night the aunts were planning to bury the latest victim. Mortimer must rally to protect his fiancee and help his aunts while trying to keep from going crazy himself.

The uproarious farce makes fun of other plays that center on murder. It’s most well-known adaptation is the 1944 film starring Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, directed by Frank Capra.

Tickets cost $7 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. The box office opens 30 minutes before the show. There is no assigned seating.

~ Image via Shutterstock