Arsenic and Old Lace
by Joseph Kesselring
Show Dates: February 20,21,22,27,28 and March 1, 2009
We want to thank our director, cast, crew and host of volunteers for a successful and entertaining show! You make it all possible.
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| Director Silvia Barbagallo-Young |
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Silvia Barbagallo-Young was born and raised in Rome, Italy. She moved to the States at the age of 19 to pursue a degree in Theatre and Dance at Lindenwood University. There she performed in several musicals including "Sweet Charity" and "Footloose", and worked as an intern with the "Paul Taylor 2 Dance company". Through her college years, she also worked with the O’Fallon Repertory Theatre performing, choreographing or assisting in musicals such as "Meet me in St.Louis", "Camelot", "West Side Story" and loved the part of Rosalind in the comedy " Moon over Buffalo". Silvia has given her voice to the Italian Cartoon character "GIBI &W" as well as to its English version in NYC. The recently achieved Master of Arts in Education is giving Silvia new roads to travel on. She recently took on the role of assistant director for Kate Cuba for the play "I Take This Man" at the Fulton School in St. Alban. She is currently a substitute teacher for the Fort Zumwalt school district as well as an Italian teacher for St.Louis Community College. Prior to this she has worked as a dance teacher for almost 10 years. This is the first year she takes a break, and misses it tremendously. Silvia is married to active duty Intel Analyst Jay, who is currently deployed to Iraq. They have a two and half year old daughter, and live in O’Fallon until further military orders. This is her first chance to work with ACT II, but the talented cast and the many dedicated volunteers are making this experience a wonderful one!
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THE PLAY
In 1941, New Yorkers were looking for some entertainment to take their minds off of the war in Europe and the growing fear that America would be pulled into it. On January 10, Broadway gave them exactly what they were looking for in the form of a hilarious new play by Joseph Kesselring, Arsenic and Old Lace. The play became an immediate critical and popular success, running for 1,444 performances. It also became a hit in England in 1942 as theatergoers who were suffering through post-blitz London lined up for tickets. In 1944, Hollywood produced a film version staring Cary Grant that became a huge box office success.
The play, a clever combination of the farcical and the macabre, centers on two elderly sisters who are famous in their Brooklyn neighborhood for their numerous acts of charity. Unfortunately, however, their charity includes poisoning lonely old men who come to their home looking for lodging. The two women are assisted in their crimes by their mentally challenged nephew who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and who frequently blasts a bugle and yells "charge" as he bounds up the stairs. Matters get complicated when a second nephew, a theater critic, discovers the murders and a third nephew appears after having just escaped from a mental institution. In his adroit mixture of comedy and mayhem, Kesselring satirizes the charitable impulse as he pokes fun at the conventions of the theater.
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