As Mr. Gibbs and Rev. Harper
in "Arsenic and Old Lace"
at Oak Harbor's Whidbey Playhouse
September 5-20, 2003

My Memories of "Arsenic and Old Lace"

When I auditioned for "Arsenic and Old Lace", I was given the rather small
part of the next door neighbor pastor. My only scene was to provide the
setting for the story at the beginning of the play. After we had been
rehearsing for a few weeks, one of the actors decided to resign his role.
I had been enjoying his peformance and was familiar with his scene. I saw
the comical nature of the scene and offered to take on his role in addition
to my own. Our director accepted my offer, and I enjoyed the opportunity
to play a comical character. To distinguish this second role from the pastor,
I used a prop cane, limped, and spoke in a high feeble voice. Our actor
with makeup skills changed my appearance by adding some age wrinkles
to my face and changed my hair color from black to gray.