Needham Resident to Star in Theater Production of 'Arsenic and Old Lace'

Needham resident, Colin Gallagher, is set to star in the Portsmouth Community Theater’s upcoming production of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” which is based on a 1944 film with actor Cary Grant.

The hero and a drama critic in the play, Mortimer Brewster, learns on his wedding day that his beloved aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family.

Brewster’s aunts take to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide.

Needham’s Gallagher will play Dr. Herman Einstein, an alcoholic, who keeps schnapps in his jacket pocket at all times. In the play, Einstein grudgingly assists Jonathan Brewster, the estranged brother of hero Mortimer, in 12 murders.

In the play, Jonathan reminds Einstein threateningly, “it’s a little late to dissolve our partnership.” Einstein is described by the police as “about forty, five foot three, hundred and forty pounds, pop eyes, talks with a German accent, poses as a doctor.”

When: July 29, 30, 31 and August 1 at 7:00 p.m., August 2 at 1:00 p.m.

Where: Aquidneck Island Christian Academy on 321 East Main Road in Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Cost: $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/military, $8 for children