"Arsenic and Old Lace" in Muncy

Cast members of "Arsenic and Old Lace," to be performed this weekend at Muncy High School, directed by Bob Taylor

Under the direction of Bob Taylor, of Custom Taylored Productions, students at Muncy High School will present "Arsenic and Old Lace," a farcical dark comedy revolving around Mortimer Brewster (portrayed by Yanni Pashikis), a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry Helen, (Olivia Renkel) the woman he loves.

His family includes two spinster aunts, Martha and Abby, (portrayed by Bridgett Murphy and Rachel Mahalick) who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt (played by Jeremy Lloyd) and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts' victims); and a murderous brother Jonathon, (Michael McJunkin) who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein (played by Bryce Edwards) to conceal his identity and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff.

Three performances are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10; Friday, Nov. 11; and Saturday, Nov. 12, beginning at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Muncy High School, 200 West Penn St.