STERLING, Kan. — Sterling High School Theatre will return to the stage for an encore performance of Arsenic and Old Lace as the production seeks adjudication for advancement to the state festival.
The performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Betsy Dutton Theatre at Sterling High School.
Directed by Greg McGlynn, the classic dark comedy is presented as a “living black-and-white” production. Everything on stage—including the set, costumes, makeup and actors—appears in black, white and shades of gray, creating the look of a 1940s movie.
“It’s just like watching an old black-and-white movie,” McGlynn said before the production’s original March run. “There is no color at all. The set, the costumes—it’s all black, white and many shades of gray. Even the actors’ skin is gray.”
A single splash of red appears at the end of the show when the plot is revealed.
Written by Joseph Kesselring, Arsenic and Old Lace follows two seemingly kind elderly sisters who poison lonely gentlemen and bury them in their basement. Their nephew, Mortimer Brewster, discovers the secret as his own life begins to unravel.
The play also has a regional connection. Kesselring served on the music faculty at Bethel College in Newton from 1928 to 1930 and lived in the historic Goerz House, which is believed to have helped inspire the Brewster home featured in the story.
The Sterling production includes a large, two-story Victorian set—the largest constructed for the Betsy Dutton Theatre. Actors wear specially applied gray makeup to complete the monochrome effect.
The Aug. 29 encore will allow the show to be evaluated by adjudicators for an opportunity to advance to the state festival.