Local Celebrities Featured at Lyric Rep
The Lyric Repertory Company at USU presents "Arsenic and Old Lace," starring Leslie Brott as Abby Brewster and Colleen Baum as Martha Brewster.
A series of guest performers will be featured throughout the summer in the Lyric Repertory Company’s production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and the best news is that the performers will be “celebrities” from the Cache Valley area.
The Lyric Repertory Company — or Lyric Rep — is a part of the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University. It opens its 49th season June 9 with Arsenic and Old Lace at the historic Caine Lyric Theatre in downtown Logan.
Written by American playwright Joseph Kesselring in 1939, Arsenic and Old Lace is best known for the film adaptation starring Cary Grant.
The play is a farcical homicide following the beloved character and drama critic Mortimer Brewster as he scrambles to keep Brooklyn safe from the “charity” of his well-meaning aunts.
Abby and Martha Brewster are two spinsters who murder lonely old men by poisoning them with glasses of elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide. Mortimer must deal with their antics and the local police as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves, whose father happens to be a reverend.
The Lyric Rep’s version of Arsenic and Old Lace features something special — a revolving cast in the role of Mr. Gibbs, a boarder in search of a room to rent who narrowly escapes the aunties’ charity. Among those filling in as the guest cast member are Richard Call, a former Lyric Rep member and theater educator (June 9); Jim Christian, the production director (June 10); Doug Thompson, former Logan mayor (June 11); Tom Williams, Utah Public Radio programming director (June 18); Craig Jessop, USU dean (July 8, Aug. 5) and Charlie Schill, drama critic (July 20), with more announcements to come.
“We asked Craig Jessop, dean of the Caine College of the Arts, if he would play Mr. Gibbs and he chuckled and said, ‘Maybe for one night,’” Richie Call, co-artistic director of the Lyric Rep, said. “That’s where the idea came from. We thought it would be fun to ask several members of the community to play the role for one night only.”
Directed by Jim Christian, a recently retired director of musical theater studies at Weber State University, Arsenic and Old Lace will keep audience members laughing.
Cast members include Leslie Brott as Abby Brewster and Colleen Baum as Martha Brewster. Both are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
Other cast members include Jim Dale (The Reverend Dr. Harper), Richie Call (Teddy Brewster), Kenny Bordieri (Officer Brohpy), Max Falls (Officer Klein), Katie Francis (Elaine Harper), Mitch Shira (Mortimer Brewster), Brendan Allen (Jonathan Brewster), Cameron Blankenship (Dr. Einstein), Michael Francis (Officer O’Hara) and Christóbal Perez (Lieutenant Rooney).
W. Vosco Call, founder of the Lyric Repertory Company, will appear as Mr. Witherspoon.
Opening June 9 and continuing June 10 and 11, Arsenic and Old Lace then runs on select dates through Aug. 5. Also part of the Lyric Rep 2016 season is Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Singin’ in the Rain and You Can’t Take it With You.
For more information and tickets, call 435-797-8022, see the Lyric Rep website or visit the Caine Lyric Theatre Box Office in downtown Logan at 28 West Center Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and one hour prior to curtain on performance dates.
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Writer and contact: Whitney Schulte, 435-797-9203, whitney.schulte@usu.edu
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