Kesselring's Classic Comedy ARSENIC AND OLD LACE Next Up at Arts Center of Cannon County

Arts Center of Cannon County presents the classic comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace-directed by Matt Smith-at the theater in Woodbury, running June 1-16 and featuring Faye Northcutt-Knox and Becky Coutras as the felonious senior citizens who murder lonely old men by offering them elderberry wine laced with arsenic.

Directed by Matt Smith and produced by Mary Ellen Smith, Arsenic and Old Lace also features Bill White, Justin Winton, Joe Bosnak, Ted Verbeten, Phil Mote, Rachel Parker, Lynn England, Wesley Rutledge, Matt Hunter, and Jonathan Higdon.

Joseph Kesselring's riotous comedy tells the hilarious story of spinster sisters Abby and Martha Brewster, (Northcutt-Knox and Coutras) two sweet old ladies who murder lonely old men in the comforting surroundings of their Brooklyn home. The sisters' daft but harmless nephew Teddy (White) believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and is in the habit of charging up the staircase as if it were San Juan Hill. Teddy digs graves in the Brewster cellar, burying the sisters' victims whom he believes are yellow fever casualties working on the Panama Canal. Complications arise when their nephew Mortimer (Justin Winton) learns of the sisters' activities; and matters get more farcical when another Brewster nephew, Jonathan (Bosnak), a criminal on the lam, along with the strange Dr. Einstein, (Verbeten) arrive with the body of their latest victim.

Arsenic and Old Lace is part of the 2012 Stagedoor Series. The performance schedule for all shows is Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 with discounts available for students, seniors and groups and may be purchased by calling the Arts Center box office at (615) 563- 2787 or (800) 235-9073. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.artscenterofcc.com. The Blue Porch @ Arts Center restaurant is now open before all performances.

The Arts Center is located on 1424 John Bragg Highway, just west of the town of Woodbury, approximately 20 minutes from Murfreesboro, Manchester, and McMinnville and one hour southeast of Nashville. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theatre in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors, held during Labor Day Weekend, which honor oustanding theater artists in Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors. Midwinter's First Night, held the first Sunday in January after New Year's Day, honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. Further, Ellis directed the Nashville premiere of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show, with Ellis honored by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror.

More Articles by This Author...