AUDITIONS SET FOR DARK COMEDY CLASSIC

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ opens January 17 at Slidell Little Theatre

Auditions for SLT’s upcoming production of the dark comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” will be held Sunday, December 1 and Monday, December 2, at Slidell Little Theatre, at 7 p.m. both nights.

The play is directed by Ronald Brister. Performance dates are weekends January 17- Feb. 2, 2014.

Audition updates will be posted on SLT’s website, as well as its social media outlets including Facebook and the community theatre’s blog site. Or, direct your questions by email to arsenic@slidelllittletheatre.org.

All auditions are open to the public. Some cast members may receive multiple roles.

A farcical black comedy revolving around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and the local police, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts' victims); and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein, to conceal his identity and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff.

Character Descriptions:

MARTHA BREWSTER - female
Kind and sweet elderly spinster who prides herself on having strong social conscience and doing the morally right thing at all times, like poisoning elderly men who are all alone in the world.

ABBY BREWSTER - female
Martha’s elderly spinster sister who also prides herself on having strong social conscience and doing the morally right thing at all times, like poisoning lonely, elderly men side-by-side with her sister.

MORTIMER BREWSTER - male
Martha and Abby’s nephew. A theatre critic who has publicly stated he hates the theatre, he finds himself in love with the daughter of his aunt’s next door neighbor, a minister. His whole world is about to be turned upside down.

TEDDY BREWSTER - male
Martha and Abby’s nephew. He truly believes he is Teddy Roosevelt.


ELAINE HARPER - female
Mortimer’s fiancé, Elaine is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Harper. She is surprisingly wise in the ways of the world for a minster's daughter.

REV. DR. HARPER - male
Next door neighbor, minister and Elaine’s father. The epitome of a good pastor, he believes that the Brewster sisters are the salt of the earth.

OFFICER KLEIN - male or female
Hardworking officer of the law; with Brophy lays out the background for the show.

OFFICER O'HARA - male or female
A police officer who fancies himself a playwright, even though everything he writes has a double meaning in connection with what’s going on in the house itself.

OFFICER BROPHY - male or female
Hardworking beat cop; with Klein, provides the exposition of the Brewster sisters’ good works as a backdrop for the show.

Lieutenant ROONEY - male
Hardworking law officer who is definitely in command. Can turn a phrase and his attitude on a dime.

JONATHAN BREWSTER - male
Mortimer’s murderous brother. He has no problem in using his aunts to hide his murders even though it might put them in harm’s way. To escape from the law, he has had several surgeries, the last one leaving him disfigured.

DR. EINSTEIN - male or female
Jonathan’s accomplice who is a timid man who would like to escape the life he has been living on the lam with Jonathan, but does not know how to do so. It becomes easier just to do what Jonathan says, because he knows what Jonathan is capable of.

MR. GIBBS - male
A lonely, disillusioned, disgruntled man who feels the world has been against him and that he has nothing to live for.

MR. WITHERSPOON - male or female
Executive Director of the Happy Dale Sanatorium, Witherspoon is lonely, a bit crotchety and unhappy with life in general.

The Northshore’s premier community theatre since 1963, Slidell Little Theatre is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and involving members of the community in high quality theatrical productions. SLT is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs.