By GINA KINSLOW
GLASGOW — Far Off Broadway Players will present the dark comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” this weekend at the Plaza Theatre.
The play is about two spinster ladies, who kill lonely elderly men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic and other poisons, and their nephews, one of which has committed murder and undergone plastic surgery so now he looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff.
This is not the first time the Far Off Broadway Players has done the play.
“This play is one that the previous Far Off Broadway Players did around 1985. The play itself is much older than that. It’s almost 70 years old. It was on Broadway in either 1940 or 1941 and it’s been a standard favorite since that time,” said Charley Goodman, director.
The first time the group did the play, Barren Circuit Court Judge Phil Patton played the lead role of Mortimer and his wife, Margie, played the female lead of Elaine. Glasgow High School art teacher Karl Weiss played Dr. Einstein, who is being portrayed by Goodman in the upcoming production of the play.
“We all think of Karl when we do this. We miss him greatly of course. He loved Far Off Broadway and loved doing these plays more than anyone,” Goodman said.
Others who appeared in the first production of the play were: Chris Grinstead, Paul Sabens, Ethel Myers and Eve Harris.
The play presents several challenges. The script calls for a two-story set.
The set is 16 feet high and took many hours to complete.
“It goes almost up to the lights and has more lumber in it that most new houses,” Goodman said.
The other challenge is that the script calls for a cast of 14 — 11 men and three women.
Goodman said the acting group finally found enough people who were willing to do the play.
“We are pleased to death with the cast and we think the audience is in for a real treat for $10 plus $1 transaction fee you can’t have a better value for your entertainment dollar in our opinion,” he said.
Because the cast is so large, Goodman took on the role of Dr. Einstein, the plastic surgeon, who turned one of the Brewsters’ nephews into a Boris Karloff look alike.
Goodman is joined on the stage by his wife, Peggy, who plays the role of Martha Brewster.
“She’s sweet and she’s kind of evil. It’s been fun to figure out how to be sweet and evil at the same time,” she said.
Earl Hammons plays the role of Jonathan, the Boris Karloff look-alike.
Hammons had always thought he would like to be involved with community theater.
“It was something I always thought it was neat when I went to plays. I thought ‘I can do that.’ I thought, ‘Well, I’m old enough. My kids are out of school now and I’m not taking them to ball games, so let’s try one.’ Really, I have enjoyed the people as much as I have the acting; just meeting different people and finding folks that were interested in this area,” he said.
Hammons said the character reminds him of his own father.
“My character has kind of a hair trigger temper and yells a lot. That as the kind of the way it was when I was growing up as a little boy. My father was kind of like that. So, it’s been kind of natural for me to be able to play this. I told somebody it kind of scares of me playing my dad,” he said, adding that being a part of the production has been fun.
“The most fun part is the socialization and being with other people and watching something that’s kind of like putting a puzzle together. You start off with all the loose pieces and then you see the picture at the end. I’ve enjoyed it,” he said.
Also starring in the play are: Marilyn Melloan as Abby Brewster; Nick Swayne as Mortimer; Randy Chapman as Teddy; and Temple Dickinson as Detective Rooney.
“Arsenic and Old Lace” will be presented Oct. 16 and 17 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Plaza Theatre. Tickets are $10 with an additional $1 transaction fee and are available at the box office, on line at www.plaza.org or call (270) 361-2101.
