“Light cue four, go!” The lights faded on, illuminating the faces of the cast members, already exchanging their witty rapport. The audience immediately leaned in, entranced by the intricate set and the unique accents the actors presented.
Theater’s new play, “Arsenic and Old Lace”, took place in the Black Box from 7-10 p.m. on Oct. 16, 17, and 18. On Oct. 18, there was an additional 2-5 p.m. performance.
The main cast members included Andy Wu as Mortimer Brewster, Maddie Teverovsky as Abby Brewster, Elizabeth Pennell as Martha Brewster, Billy Fernandez as Jonathan Brewster, and Nivaan Shah as Dr. Einstein.
“This play is definitely the most fun I’ve had working on a show,” senior Andy Wu, who played Mortimer in the show, said. “It’s a dark comedy so the entire process was really funny. Reading the play, reading all the jokes, and then putting life into it and casting everyone into their respective characters was a really fun process.”
Every cast member in this show put hours upon hours of work to breathe life into their characters and memorize each and every line.
“We worked on it for two hours every single day,” Wu said. “And then on Saturday, we had practice 9 to 4. So in total, about 100 hours were spent on the play.”
The cast members for each character were intricately hand-picked, in order to portray the character as best as possible.
“I decided to audition for my character because of the assistant director, Alyssa, who really wanted me to audition for the play,” sophomore Lizzy Pennell, who played Aunt Martha in the play, said. “I was kind of put off by the idea of being an old lady, but I decided to audition anyway because I always love being onstage and getting laughs from an audience.”
Despite initially being hesitant to step into her role, Pennell found herself growing fond of Aunt Martha the longer Pennell was in her shoes.
“I think there was something alluring about Martha because I really came to love playing her,” Pennel said. “She’s mysterious but not a bad person. Plus, she genuinely thinks she’s doing a service by killing people, which is something to sympathize with, I think. She has a good heart, she just goes about things the wrong way because of a predisposed issue.”
Wu had similar experiences to Pennell, though Mortimer caught Wu’s eye from the very start.
“I try to audition for every character, but I think I really resonated with this character because everything’s happening around him and he’s going insane,” Wu said. “It’s really just that the other characters didn’t fit and then I just aligned myself with the guy that’s reacting with everything.”
Through Mortimer, Wu has come to love the play. He says his favorite part is playing around the hidden body on stage and the comedy of finding then hiding the body. He loved the shock and humor that came with playing with the body.
“This has been my favorite show to work on in high school, ever,” Wu said. “It’s super funny, everyone working on it was super talented, and the audience’s reactions were great. You know how it’s like you’re coming out of a show, and people are always going to tell you wow, that was my vision, that was so good, even though that was the worst piece of art that I’ve ever put on stage, but everything felt satisfying, everything felt real. I’m really, really proud of it.”
