Jon Matousek, Luke Rush, Nat Brautigam, Gretchen Grassl and Betty Slack star in “Arsenic and Old Lace” for the Kirk Players. The play will be staged June 14-16 and 21-23 at Mundelein High School. The Kirk Players present “Arsenic and Old Lace,” written by Joseph Kesselring and directed by Jon Leslie Lynn of Mundelein. It will be staged at 7:30 p.m. June 14-15 and 21-22 and at 2 p.m. June 16 and 23 at Mundelein High School in Mundelein.
“Arsenic and Old Lace” is the story of the Brewster sisters, who live in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941. Their two other nephews include Mortimer, a drama critic who is in love with the pastor’s daughter and next-door neighbor Elaine; and Jonathan, a criminal on the run from the cops who has just escaped from an insane asylum. Jonathan has an evil sidekick, plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein, who has changed Jonathan’s appearance to avoid being recognized by the police.
One problem he is running into is that there are a few references to people who were famous in 1941 who aren’t known by modern audiences, he said. Some people may not know who Boris Karloff is, he said. There’s another reference to actress Judith Anderson.