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Lamp Post Creative Learning Center prepares for upcoming ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ performances

The cast of Lamp Post’s upcoming rendition of “Arsenic and Old Lace” ranges in age from a high school senior to retirees. The show opens on Thursday. (Lamp Post/Courtesy photo)
The play will be held over the course of four days

Lamp Post Creative Learning Center will present the dark comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the former Rock Springs Church, 32171 U.S. Highway 160.

Opening night is Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. Additional shows are scheduled for Oct. 10–11 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 11–12 at 2 p.m.

The 12-member cast includes performers from high school age to retirees. The set depicts a two-story Victorian living room with a staircase, cellar door and window seat – all central to the plot.

Written in the early 1940s, the play centers on two elderly Brooklyn sisters known for their generosity. Beneath their kind exteriors, they secretly poison lonely old men with arsenic-laced elderberry wine, believing it to be an act of mercy. Their nephew Mortimer uncovers the secret while confronting his own fears of inherited eccentricity.

One nephew, convinced he’s Teddy Roosevelt, buries the victims in the cellar, imagining he’s digging the Panama Canal. A third nephew, a fugitive with a surgically altered face, escalates the chaos.

“We’re having a really good time,” Lamp Post co-founder Corinne Sandner told The Journal. “I got to be in here while they were practicing lines, and the ladies who play our sisters are just giggling at each other and having a great time.”

“It’s a comedy, it’s a farce, it’s a dark comedy and it’s just kind of a look at, ‘What makes someone insane?’” co-founder Nicholaus Sandner said.

Rehearsals have run three nights a week for five to six weeks. Many of the adult cast members work standard 9-to-5 jobs or are teachers who can arrive by 5:30 p.m., when rehearsals typically begin. Retired participants also contribute, and their flexible schedules make planning easier.

Lamp Post Creative also hosts weekly rehearsals for the Four Corners Community Band. Its first concert, “Howls and Harvest,” a free Halloween- and fall-themed event, is set for Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m.

A 1940s-themed winter formal is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 31, with live music from the Four Corners Community Band, a student jazz group and an ensemble of FCCB members. The event includes hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction to raise funds for Lamp Post.

The event will serve as a formal fundraiser supporting Lamp Post’s capital campaign to purchase its property. Attendees can enjoy a silent auction, make donations and take part in a festive evening designed to encourage community support for the center’s future.

A musical is planned for February, featuring children through adults in a performance of either “Annie” or “Matilda.”

“Both of those will have a large cast of kids, which is the group that we’re aiming for,” Nicholaus Sandner said.

Tickets, season passes and sponsorships for “Arsenic and Old Lace” are available at www.lamppostclc.org. Season passes include two tickets to each of the four annual shows for $60, an $80 value. Tiered sponsorships are also offered.