The Alley Theatre welcomes the return of veteran theatre and screen actress Dixie Carter (last seen in the Alley's world premiere of Be My Baby) as Abby Brewster in Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace. Playing her sister Martha Brewster is Tony nominated Mia Dillon. Carter and Dillon join the Alley Theatre Company of Actors in this classic screwball comedy.
Directed by Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd, Arsenic and Old Lace begins previews Friday, October 5, opens officially Wednesday, October 10, and runs through Sunday, November 4.
Carter was most recently nominated for an Emmy for her guest work on the ABC hit Desperate Housewives. Audiences may remember Dillon for her work in the PBS television broadcast of Westport Country Playhouse's production (which subsequently played Broadway) of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, playing opposite Paul Newman.
Arsenic and Old Lace is generously sponsored by Enbridge, Inc. Additional support is provided by JPMorgan Chase and Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. The Alley Theatre is supported by the 2007-2008 season sponsor Continental Airlines, the official airline of the Alley Theatre.
Arsenic and Old Lace introduces audiences to the Brewster sisters, their nephew Teddy – who believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt, and their drama critic nephew Mortimer, who is as surprised as anyone to learn that his maiden aunts have taken it upon themselves to commit murder – with a glass of arsenic-spiked elderberry wine.
DIXIE CARTER is returning to the Alley Theatre, having appeared here in the fall of 2005 with her husband Hal Holbrook in Ken Ludwig's Be My Baby. In 2006 she and Mr. Holbrook starred at the Coconut Grover Playhouse in the two character play, Southern Comforts, by Kate Clark. In the 2005 summer she played to standing room only at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C. as Mrs. Erlynne in Oscar Wilde's play, Lady Windermere's Fan. She has starred previously there in another Oscar Wilde play, A Woman of No Importance. Ms. Carter received an Emmy nomination in July for her portrayal of Gloria Hodge on the ABC hit Desperate Housewives. In addition to the role of Julia Sugarbaker on Designing Women, she has starred in seven other television series: Family Law, Family Man, Fired Up, Filthy Rich, On Our Own, Out of the Blue, and Diff'rent Strokes. She and Mr. Holbrook met while filming the CBS-TV movie, The Killing of Randy Webster. New York credits include 11 seasons at The Café Carlyle. On Broadway, she has appeared in Thoroughly Modern Millie (at the Marquis Theatre), as Maria Callas in Master Class (the John Golden Theatre), Melba in Pal Joey (Circle in the Square) and in Sextet (the Bijou Theatre). Off-Broadway she has appeared in The Winter's Tale at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Taken in Marriage, Fathers and Sons, Buried Inside Extra, Gogol and Jesse and the Bandit Queen at the Public Theatre, Carousel, The King and I, and The Merry Widow at Music Theatre of Lincoln Center, and A Coupla' White Chicks Sittin' Around Talkin', Upstairs at the Downstairs (two seasons at Astor Place Theatre. Her regional theatre credits include Paper Doll (Jacqueline Susanne) at Long Wharf Theatre; Names (Stella Adler), A Streetcar Named Desire (Blanche DuBois), The Apple Cart, Kiss Me Kate, A Little Night Music, Mame, Babes in Arms, Oklahoma, Brigadoon, The King and I, The New Moon, The Student Prince, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night.
MIA DILLON most recently appeared with Keir Dullea in Strings and in the U.S. premiere of the Israeli play The Murder of Isaac. Ms. Dillon is a veteran stage actor whose Broadway credits include originating the role of Babe in Crimes of the Heart, for which she received a Tony Award Nomination and the Clarence Derwent Award. Other Broadway credits include the sold-out run of Our Town (with Paul Newman), Hay Fever (with Rosemary Harris), The Corn is Green (with Cicely Tyson and Peter Gallagher), The Miser (with Phillip Bosco and Carole Shelley), Once a Catholic (for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination), Agnes of God (with Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Ashley), and Da (with Barnard Hughes and Brian Murray). Her Off Broadway credits include The Exonerated, Remembrance, Come Back, Little Sheba (Roundabout Theatre with Shirley Knight and Philip Bosco), The Three Sisters (Manhattan Theatre Club with Sam Waterston, Diane Weist and Jeff Daniels) and many others. Among her many regional credits are The Murder of Isaac (Baltimore Center Stage), The Moonlight Room , Concertina's Rainbow (Fairfield Theatre Co. and Cherry Lane Theatre), Dancing at Lughnasa (Philadelphia Drama Guild and Cleveland Playhouse), Days of Wine and Roses (Cleveland Play House), The Cherry Orchard (La Jolla Playhouse with Lynn Redgrave and Santa Fe Stages with Marsha Mason), Heartbreak House (Yale Rep), Much Ado About Nothing (Yale Rep), Wonderful Tennessee (McCarter Theatre), Molly Sweeney (Philadelphia Theatre Co.- Barrymore Award Nomination), The O'Neill Playwrights Conference (7 summers) and the Sundance Institute (3 summers). Ms. Dillon's film and television credits include Our Town, Gods and Generals, The Money Pit, A Shock to the System, Lots of Luck, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, Mary and Rhoda, The Cosby Show, Law & Order, Law & Order S.V.U, Law & Order Criminal Intent and most recently as the medical examiner on The Jury. Her award-winning short 35-mm film, Quiet, which she wrote, directed and edited has been seen in five film festivals and the Sundance Channel. She can regularly be heard reading short stories on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts.
Joining Carter and Dillon in Arsenic and Old Lace are Alley Theatre Company Actors James Belcher as Teddy Brewster, James Black as Jonathan Brewster, Elizabeth Heflin as Elaine Harper, Paul Hope as Officer O'Hara, Chris Hutchison as Officer Klein, Charles Krohn as Reverend Harper/Lieutenant Rooney, David Rainey as Officer Brophy, John Tyson as Dr. Einstein, and Todd Waite as Mortimer Brewster. Making his Alley debut is Colin McPhillamy as Mr. Gibbs/Mr. Witherspoon (Westport Country Playhouse's Sedition).
The design team for Arsenic and Old Lace includes Tony award-winning costume designer Judith Dolan (Broadway's LoveMusik, Parade, Candide, Alley's Leading Ladies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), scenic designer Hugh Landwehr (Broadway's Frozen, A View from the Bridge, Alley's Doubt, Witness for the Prosecution), Tony award-winning lighting designer Pat Collins (Broadway's Dr. Suess's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Doubt, Proof, Alley's Journey's End, After the Fall) and sound design by Joe Pino (Alley's Doubt, The Crucible). -- www.alleytheatre.org
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