'Woodlawn Wednesdays' Kicks Off July 8 with Summer Garden Theater

Looking for something fun to do on Wednesdays this summer? Woodlawn is cooking up some summer fun, starting with the presentation Wednesday, July 8 by The Picnic Theatre Company’s of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

The grounds, at 9000 Richmond Highway, will open at 5:30 p.m. and the performance will begin at 7 p.m. in the Woodlawn Fountain Garden.

Tickets are $15 each and can be purchased online. Order a picnic bag for two for $49 (dessert and bottle of wine included). View the menu HERE.

Bring your blankets and enjoy a picnic on the grounds, before the seated show in the fountain garden. Want to make it easy? Be sure to pre-order the murderously delicious dinner bag for two from Old Town’s Society Fair, by Chef Cathal Armstrong and his wife Meshelle, available for pick-up on site. Or, bring your own. If you dare, try the Elderberry Cocktail, or Death by Chocolate Brownie, available for separate purchase. (Outside alcohol is prohibited.)

The one-hour, one-act performance of the 1940s smash Broadway comedy hit was originally brought to the silver screen by Frank Capra, starring Cary Grant. The Woodlawn mansion and fountain garden will set the stage for the ”Brewster Mansion,” where villains, lunatics and sweet little old ladies form the ultimate dysfunctional family. Proceeds will benefit the preservation of Woodlawn and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House, and the Courage for Kids GIVE BACK-pack initiative.

Picnic Theatre Company has been recognized by the Washington Post as one of the “culture-party hybrids taking Washington by storm” and “the next big thing” in local theater, and as a Washington City Paper Arts and Entertainment Editor’s Pick for a “quick hit of classic theater.”

Professionals by day and thespians by night, Picnic Theatre Company’s all-volunteer troupe donates proceeds of performances to historical preservation, and arts and education charities. Directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Karim C. Chrobog, the cast for Arsenic and Old Lace includes USTR’s Christina Sevilla, Wiley Rein’s Nova Daly, Chemonics’ Jane Latham Hodges, Senate Budget Committee’s Matt Stoller, PBS’ Daniela Kelley, EPA’s Charles Kovatch, Washington Post’s Tony Olivo, State Department’s Bob Gerber, Creative Science Labs’ Chris Fowler, and communications consultant Kevin Rooney.

Picnic Theatre Company has performed at a variety of historic Washington venues including Dumbarton House, The Phillips Collection, The Washington Club, The University Club and The Hill Center at Capitol Hill.

The first site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Woodlawn estate was originally part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

PHOTO of Woodlawn courtesy of Woodlawn, via Facebook