09/09/2026
This show is special. Go back in time and watch a black and white production of a classic. We have done the research. We have taken care of all the details. We have built a gorgeous Noir set. All we need is to fill those seats!! Tickets at Henderson County Performing Arts Center HCPAC.org.
'Arsenic & Old Lace' Is Sinister and Sweet
(Post sponsored by Tinsley Title and Holt Wrecker Service )
Henderson County Performing Arts Center’s “Arsenic & Old Lace” is funny right up until it reminds you there are bodies in the basement.
And even that’s still funny with the right killers.
Allison Martin and Pat Jousan Williams are great as Abby and Martha Brewster, two charming sisters who explain away murder as charity. Their dry delivery sells the joke because they never seem to think they are doing anything particularly wrong.
Roy M. Griffis takes the show in the other direction and is menacing as Jonathan Brewster. He is not cartoonishly evil, but genuinely scary and dangerous.
The show is built on this contrast between the sinister and the sweet, and on the general craziness of the Brewster family.
Troy Martin as Teddy Brewster, for instance, goes charging through the house believing he is Theodore Roosevelt. His work on the “Panama Canal” in the basement eventually becomes vital to the plot.
Patrick Wauschek is good as Mortimer Brewster, the theater critic who slowly realizes just how strange his family is. Some of his best moments come when he is simply trying to understand what his aunts have told him.
Opie Ryan as Elaine Harper and Anthony F. Rives as Dr. Einstein also have plenty to do in the middle of all this madness. Ryan gives Mortimer someone outside the Brewster family to hold onto, while Rives is a strong partner for Jonathan. His Dr. Einstein knows exactly how dangerous Jonathan is, and that gives their scenes a darker kind of humor.
And then there is the look of the show itself.
HCPAC has gone all in on black and white, from the costumes and makeup to the set and lighting. Wes Akin’s lighting is a big part of making that work, helping the stage look less like a modern production and more like an old movie playing out in front of you.
The result is a dark comedy that keeps you laughing and looking over your shoulder at the same time.
Directed by Ethan Herrin, “Arsenic & Old Lace” opens Thursday at the Henderson County Performing Arts Center, 400 Gibson Road in Athens. Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 10-12 and 17-19, with a 2 p.m. matinee Sept. 13.
Tickets are available online through HCPAC.
Cast
- Allison Martin as Abby Brewster
- Gary Williams as Rev. Harper
- Troy Martin as Teddy Brewster
- Chet Healey as Officer Brophy
- Ethan Lodato as Officer Klein
- Pat Jousan Williams as Martha Brewster
- Opie Ryan as Elaine Harper
- Patrick Wauschek as Mortimer Brewster
- John Wilson as Mr. Gibbs
- Roy M. Griffis as Jonathan Brewster
- Anthony F. Rives as Dr. Einstein
- Chris Clark as Officer O’Hara
- Aaliyah Tre’Nyse Braxton-Johnson as Lt. Rooney
- Calvin Sheffield as Dr. Witherspoon
Crew
- Ethan Herrin, director
- Kati Tibbitts, assistant director
- PJ Ericson, stage manager
- Carissa Hunter, assistant stage manager
- Kara Davis, light board operator
- Wes Akin, lighting design
- Cisco Flores, sound board operator
- Alyce Pine, production manager
- Pat Jousan Williams, costumes, props and set design
- Joclyn Ewers, costumes
- Audrey Martin, makeup
- Jewel Martin, makeup
- Opie Ryan, photography and makeup
- Eric Davis, set construction
- Timm Zitz, set design
