Art Fair & Drama Club's Arsenic and Old Lace Production
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy invited families and guests for a Sunday afternoon of its annual Art Fair and Drama Production on March 5th. The day began with the Art Fair that showcased many students’ skills in arts and crafts. Works that were on display exhibited creative pencil and coloured drawings, paintings, digital works, 3-Dimensional works, and board games. Guests were encouraged to not only view the works, but also to choose the best works in the set categories. The winners each category were:
11/12 Advertisements
Alfredo Diaz & Jacob VanderMeer
John Crismore & Dyllon Arendoque
11/12 Perspectives
Joseph Nienaber
Andrew Werick
11/12 Maps
Stephen Hetrick
Alfredo Diaz
9/10 Game Boards
Carter Tan & Jared Whyburd
Joseph Dumalie & Simon Shrage
Personal Submissions
Owen Garno
Joshua Werick
7/8 Art
Timothy VanderMeer
Hubert MacDonald
K-5 Art
Catherine Brown
Erin Riddell
Congratulations artists!
The afternoon arts and entertainment continued with a hilarious rendition of Joseph Kesselring’s play, “Arsenic and Old Lace”, by the Drama Club. This quite intense and funny play follows Mortimer Brewster, who discovers that his relatives are all insane in their own homicidal ways. His two spinster aunts have taken it upon themselves to “relieve the pain” from lonely old men by poisoning them with their own creative mixture of laced elderberry wine. Although this premisse may have seemed unlikely years ago, the play makes the very serious point that the aunts, who kill under guise of "mercy," are as bad as their other nephew, who has completely reconstructed his face to hide his identity. A comical turn is provided by the third nephew who believes himself to be President Teddy Roosevelt. In addition to all of this, the play begins with Mortimor devoting himself to marry Elaine Harper.
The simple yet well-constructed production allowed the boys to act as expressive and as nonsensical as possible to represent the characters in the play. Carter Tan and Garrett Stoltz were able to embody the two spinster aunts with a youthful twist. The other boys were able to run around – literally – with waving arms and legs, whether acting as dead or alive. Intermission also provided a short comical bit that included juggling and large dancing candy and chocolate costumes. Overall, the Drama Club, directed by Matthew Zepf, delivered an amusing show enjoyable by everyone in attendance.
CAST & CREW
Mortimer Brewster – Andrew Curtis
Teddy Brewster – Joseph Rugman
Abby Brewster – Garrett Stoltz
Martha Brewster – Carter Tan
Johnathan Brewster – Alfredo Diaz
Dr. Herman Einstein – Scott Hetrick
Elaine Harper – Theresa Rugman
Mr. Gibbs – Stephen Hetrick
Officer Brophy – Reuben Beauregard
Officer Klein – John Crismore
Officer O’Hara – Jacob Vander Meer
Lieutenant Rooney – James Fisher
Mr. Witherspoon – Brendan McKervey
Dr. Harper – Thomas Weiner
Mr. Hoskins – Dominic Nienaber
Mr. Spenalzo – Frederick McKervey
Stage Crew:
Paul Weiner
Joseph Nienaber
Simon Schrage
Christian Quain
Prop Crew:
Dominic Nienaber
Frederick McKervey
Sound Engineer: Luke Ehrnreiter
Additional Crew:
Gabriel Murai
Jeff Bamrah
Hubert MacDonald
Special Thanks to Lord Arendoque (Sound); Martin De Artola (Popcorn Machine); St. Joseph’s, Michigan (Costume Donations); and Father Sherry (Budget). A special thanks to the parents who helped and to Miss Theresa Rugman for her assistance in all departments of the play.
Look forward for these annual events in the future!