‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ Opens Friday, January 10 at Surfside Playhouse in Cocoa Beach
By Space Coast Daily // January 2, 2020
Arsenic and Old Lace will run for three weekends, from January 10 through 26

BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA – Elderberry wine, anyone? A true comedy classic, Arsenic and Old Lace opens Friday, January 10 during the 60th Anniversary Season of the Surfside Playhouse in Cocoa Beach.
Set in Brooklyn, New York in the 1930s, the delightful farce follows Mortimer Brewster (played by Edward Johnson), a successful newspaperman who discovers that insanity in his family has taken a murderous turn.
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Home to announce his engagement, Mortimer finds his two spinster aunts are murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic.
A brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt has been digging locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts’ victims); and a maniacal brother who strangely resembles Boris Karloff returns with evil intentions.
Mortimer must ward off local police as he attempts to cover up the murders and decide whether to marry his fiancée after all. Under the direction of Bryan Bergeron, Arsenic and Old Lace will run for three weekends, from January 10 through 26.
With plenty of laughs for the whole family, Arsenic and Old Lace is suitable for all ages. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8:00 PM, Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. A special 2 p.m. Saturday matinee has been added on January 25.
Adult tickets to all shows are $25, Senior/Military/Student tickets are $22. Children 12 and under are $10.
Tickets are available at the door or through the theatre website at SurfsidePlayhouse.com.
The 250-seat Surfside Playhouse, “Where the Beach Meets the Stage,” is west on South Fifth Street from Highway A1A and located at 301 Ramp Road in Cocoa Beach, at the northwest corner of Brevard Avenue and Ramp Road.
For more information about Arsenic and Old Lace, call 321-783-3127.
Artistic Director for the Surfside Players, Bryan Bergeron thinks that audiences of all kinds will enjoy the comic situations in Arsenic and Old Lace.
“This show is loaded with laughs from start to finish,” said Bergeron.”Poor Mortimer is faced with one hilarious situation after another, as he tries to conceal the murders and shield his insane family, ultimately protecting them from a murderous brother on the lam.”
CAST: (bold denotes principal player)
Jody Hatcher— Abby Brewster
Joanne Maio— Martha Brewster
Edward Johnson— Mortimer Brewster
Chris Tsocanos— Teddy Brewster
John Torres— Jonathan Brewster
Peter Olander— Dr. Einstein
Crystalia Hampton– Elaine Harper
Arlan Ropp –Mr. Gibbs
Gordon Ringer– Officer O’Hara
Mitch Abrams– Rev. Harper
Katie McCall– Officer Brophy
Chloe Collins– Officer Klein
Tina Coppock– Lt. Rooney
Steven Mogell– Mr. Witherspoon