Back Alley Productions in LaFayette kicks off 10th season

Award-winning theatre company Back Alley Productions invites you to its upcoming dark comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace,” based on the famous Frank Capra film of the 1940s.

The famous madcap comedy focuses on the eccentric Brewster family. The hero is Mortimer Brewster, who has long protested the concept of marriage but now faces introducing his crazy family to the woman he loves, Elaine Harper, as he debates whether to commit fully, or be committed from the lunacy around him.

Sure, Elaine might be openminded. And sure, she does love Mortimer. But there’s a problem (well, a few problems). Namely, Mortimer isn’t sure how to explain his two spinster aunts who have kindly taken it upon themselves to start poisoning lonely old men as an act of charity; or a brother who believes he is President Theodore Roosevelt; or another brother who happens to be a serial killer who has received some botched plastic surgery to conceal his identity.

“We’re so excited to bring this story to life,” Krystal Dawson, director of the show, said. “The cast has brought a very kinetic energy to this production. There’s so much humor happening that it’s almost worth seeing twice, because you’re bound to miss some of the details in the chaos. And those details are some of the funniest moments.”

With all these character under one roof — including an alcoholic and sadistic plastic surgeon named Dr. Hermann Einstein — things are going to go from odd, to downright lunacy. Will it drive Mortimer and Elaine apart? Will it drive Mortimer mad? Will Mortimer even be alive by the end of the show? There’s only one way to find out.

The production is directed by Krystal Dawson. “Arsenic and Old Lace” stars Sara Miller, Elizabeth Angwin, William Smith, Rachel Goldsmith, Lucas Duvall, Bobby Daniels, Joshua Smith, Ayda Fisher, Alison Gilbreath, Megan Allen, Sara Rose DeBord and Alexander DeBord.

Back Alley Productions From left: Rachel Goldsmith as Elaine, Bobby Daniels as Jonathan, Joshua Smith as Dr. Einstein and Luke Duvall as Mortimer.

From left: Joshua Smith as Einstein, Rachel Goldsmith as Elaine and Bobby Daniels as Jonathan.

From left: Dick Chandler as an old man and Sara Miller as Aunt Martha, who has taken it upon herself to poison old men as a charity.

William Smith plays Teddy Brewster, who is delusional and has convinced himself that he’s actually President Theodore Roosevelt fighting in the Spanish-American War.