THE CAST of “Arsenic & Old Lace” at Westminster Commmunity Playhouse (WCP).

By Thom deMartino/Orange County Tribune

Ah, family. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t do away with ‘em., amirite?

Westminster Community Playhouse’s 2024-2025 season is going strong with their production of “Arsenic & Old Lace’, now playing through Sunday, Jan. 26.

Directed by Greg Stokes, it’s the story of a remarkably unusual little family: living in an old manor in Brooklyn in 1940’s New York, there’s the pair of elderly sisters, Abby and Martha Brewster (Candy Beck and Sarah Hoeven), taking care of their reality-challenged nephew Teddy (Jorge Agustin) and his antics – he genuinely believes himself to be President Teddy Roosevelt, so everything around him becomes related. The stairs become San Juan Hill, for him to charge up; the basement becomes Panama, where he digs the canal.

The locals are accustomed to the eccentric family, and regard them as harmless — such as when officers Brophy and Klein show up (played by Jim Henson and Adriana Catanzarite) to pick up toy donations for the local orphanage and to remind the sisters to please keep Teddy in check, so as to not annoy the neighbors.

In fact, just across the cemetery adjacent to the manor lives the pious Reverend Harper (Frank Valdez) and his lovely daughter Elane (Pechiney Suos), who is herself soon-to-be betrothed to the lone “white sheep” of the Brewster family, Mortimer (Shawn Patrick Thomas). And while the reverend disapproves of his line of work (as a theater critic), he can’t deny the young man’s affection for his beloved daughter.

When Mortimer visits the family home and discovers a very unexpected guest, his whole world is turned upside-down when he realizes that his family is more than just quirky… they’re downright dangerous.

Adding to this mood is the appearance by his prodigal brother, the unsettling and menacing Jonathan (Guy C. van Empel) and his cohort, the inebriated doctor Einstein (Charlie Rodriguez), who are themselves looking for a place to “lay low” from the authorities. But Jonathan’s ire arises upon seeing his brother, whom he used to torment as a child… and now realizes that he might just use this reunion to finish the job.

Mortimer’s caught between a rock and a hard place, trapped between loyalty to his kin and his concern for the populace at large… how can he extricate himself from these family ties that bind?
For those who have never seen “Arsenic and Old Lace” on stage, or even if you’ve seen the classic film – this Westminster Community Playhouse production is a marvelous rendition, with an excellent cast and brilliant comedic timing.

Jorge Agustin makes a delightful Teddy, vaguely childlike in some of his conversation with his aunts and the friendly Officer O’Hara (Benjamin Rasmussen); Thomas’s Mortimer charms, as does Suos’s Elane; Hoeven’s Martha is a lovely, doting aunt to her nephews (Candy Beck was unfortunately unavailable for the matinee this reviewer attended, with the role of Abby instead portrayed by director Greg Stokes, to great comic effect.)

But a particularly entrancing duo in the production (aside from the Henson’s and Catanzarite’s lively officers Brophy and Klein) are van Empel’s Johnathan and Rodriguez’s Einstein: with his deep, monotone delivery and slow, measured steps and movement, van Empel creates quite the threatening brother, while Rodriquez makes quite the likable and friendly character… despite his poor life choices.

Playing for one final weekend, “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Westminster Community Playhouse is a wonderful throwback to times past, and a marvelous introduction to these classic characters; and most definitely one to catch while you can.

 “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Candy Beck, Sarah Hoeven, Shawn Patrick Thomas and Guy C. van Empel star in this story of a family with more than skeletons in their closet. Playing through Sunday, January 26 at the Westminster Community Playhouse, 7272 Maple St, Westminster. Ticketing information available online at http://www.wcpstage.com, or call (714) 893-8626.