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PHILIPSTOWN DEPOT THEATRE
Depot Square, Garrison's Landing
www.philipstowndepottheatre.org
(845) 424-3900
Through May 18 - Arsenic and Old
Lace, Directed by Nancy Swann. Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm
Sat. May 24 - Music Tracks: Margaret McDuffie, 8pm
Sun. May 25 - Poetry: Past, Present & Future; John Pielmeier, guest poet, 5pm, $10
Sat. May 31 - Youth Players Present a Variety Show, 2pm & 4pm
Fri/Sun. June 6,7,8 - Aery Theatre Co.
Fri. June 13 - Depot Docs: Pete Seeger: The Power of
Song, directed by Jim Brown
Fri. June 30 - Music Tracks: Laura Benjamin, 8pm
Sat. June 21 - Music Tracks: Cat Guthrie, 8pm
Fri. June 27 - Music Tracks: John Doyle & Liz Carroll, 8pm
Sat. June 28 - Art Garden, 8pm
Depot Theatre's Production of Arsenic & Old
Lace: a Review
By Vane Lashua
Arsenic & Old Lace? That old thing? Please, folks, bury any lonely, old preconceptions you have about arsenic, old lace or Teddy Roosevelt in the basement of the uniquely loony Brewster household for a couple of hours. Director Nancy Swann has conveniently relocated it from the Brooklyn of the '40s to the Depot Theatre in Garrison for the first three
weekends in May.
By the end of the evening, you'll agree that the thirteen bodies in the basement (the "Panama Canal") are simply victims of the charity of the Brewsters. Aunts Abby & Martha oh-so-sweetly have the elderberry wine decanted & the crystal set, and wait to guide their lonely roomers to a better place. (Stephanie Hepburn & Nancy Larson create the sisters
and their delusional world exquisitely).
Luckily the sisters have the help of their bonkers nephew. Teddy (dressed & played to a Teddy by Dan Anderson) regularly charges up San Juan hill (the stairs), signs state-secret proclamations (his asylum commitment papers) or is off to dig a new "lock" in the Panama Canal for the sisters' latest visitor.
Next door live the Rev. Dr. Harper (accented authentically by Joe Hartin) and his naturally sweet and just-naughty-enough daughter, Elaine (Amanda Baker). Mortimer Brewster (Ed Bond), nephew and Manhattan theatre reviewer, is Elaine's beau and the unwitting accomplice to his aunts' mischief. During the evening he discovers almost everything,
including his love for Elaine and his long-lost brother — OMG! — Jonathan. In the end, love — and good fortune — conquer almost all.
Wayward brother, Jonathan Brewster — OMG! — and his accomplice and personal plastic surgeon, Dr. Einstein (George Petkanas), are fugitive world travelers ... and serial killers. They return — tonight — to use the household as a surgical theater: Jonathan needs to change his looks from a likeness of Boris Karloff's Frankenstein monster to the old
Jonathan. George Petkanas renders Dr. Einstein with delightful humor and pratfalls that rival the Marx brothers.
Sterling Swann creates Jonathan and his face — you won't believe how seamless the make up is, even from the front row — and his portrayal character remains SCARY, even through the curtain call.
Nat Prentice, Rob Anderson and Ron Schnittker establish willful police foils for the sisters and the obsessive nature of would-be playwright Officer O'Hara (Scott Mendelsohn) ultimately brings everyone to justice.
Sound confusing? It's pure entertainment and a delight! It's a wonderfully directed mix of professional expression in everything theatrical — from costume, makeup, hair design to set design, construction and lighting. We are a fortunate audience.
Arsenic and Old Lace is directed by Nancy Swann; Set Design, Dana Kenn; Set Construction, Donald Kimmel; Nancy Swann, cast & crew; Lighting Design, Michael Mell; Lighting Tech, Xena Petkanas; Costumes by Charlotte Palmer-Lane; Produced by Julie Heckert
Performance times are: Fridays & Saturdays, May 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17 at 8pm and Sundays May 4, 11, 18 at 2pm
Arsenic and Old Lace Opens at the Philipstown Depot Theatre
Pictured from left to right; Stephanie Hepburn (Aunt Abby), Joe Hardin (Rev. Harper), Dan Anderson (Teddy), Nat Prentice (Officer Brophy), Ed Bond (Mortimer), Amanda Lyn Baker (Elaine), Ron Schnittker (Officer Rooney), Nancy Larsen (Aunt Martha)
Be careful of what you drink when you come to see
Arsenic and Lace, the classic comedy playing at the Philipstown Depot Theatre May 2-18, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. A special preview weekend with $10 ticket prices runs April 25 at 8pm, April 26 at 2pm and April 27 at 2pm. Regular ticket prices are $15 for Adults and $12
for Seniors and children. Please call the theatre box office at 424-3900 for reservations.
Yes, it's 1941, Brooklyn, NY, and Mortimer Brewster (Ed Bond), a New York theatre critic is finally getting hitched to Elaine Harper (Amanda Lyn Baker), the girl next door. Mortimer stops in to deliver the news to his two eccentric maiden aunts, Abby (Stephanie Hepburn) and Martha Brewster (Nancy Larsen) who care for Mortimer's brother Teddy
(Dan Anderson), a bugle blowing nut-bag who thinks he's Theodore Roosevelt. Mortimer soon discovers to his horror, that his dear sweet old aunties have a strange charity. They lure lonely old gentlemen into their home and serve them elderberry wine sparked with arsenic. To make matters worse, Mortimer's deranged and very dangerous brother Jonathan
(Sterling Swann) shows up. Jonathan is on the run from the law, has a dead body in the trunk of his car, a drunken plastic surgeon (George Petkanas) at his side, and a face that looks like Boris Karloff. Mortimer frantically attempts to deal with dead bodies, insane asylum directors, attempted murders and a new bride all in one crazy Halloween night. Additonal
cast members include: Joe Hardin as Rev. Harper and Mr. Witherspoon, Nat Prentice as Officer Brophy, Rob Anderson as Officer Klein, Ron Schnittker as Mr. Gibbs and Lieutenant Rooney and Scott Mendelsohn as Officer O'Hara.
Arsenic and Old Lace is directed by Nancy Swann, and produced by Julie Heckert with Maia Guest as Stage Manager, Dana Kenn, set designer, Charlotte Palmer-Lane, costume designer, Michael Mell, lighting designer, Donald Kimmel, set construction, and Xena Petkanas, lighting technician.
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