Make Certain You Can Be Heard and Seen

VOICE PROJECTION -- MAKE SURE EVERYONE CAN HEAR EVERY WORD YOU SAY

The audience needs to hear every word you say. Practice reaching the back row with your voice.  Enunciate clearly so they can get the words, even when doing an accent or different stage voice.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND LETTING YOUR FACE BE SEEN

Facial Expressions accentuate your words.  Make certain your face can be seen by the audience, especially on laugh lines.

Tickets Are Going Fast

Call for Tickets to Come and Smile Often and Laugh More --

 Call Jan Hellman at the Main Street Pub and Grill'

515-885-0008

Come and See a Fun Play in an Intimate Dinner Theater Setting and Laugh the Night Away

Bancroft play promotes Murder, Laughter, and Better Plastic Surgery

In Better Times -- Bad Seed Jonathan Brewster and his Dear Aunt Martha 

Singing Karaoke ("Bad to the Bone") at the Main Street Pub and Grill 

Backstage in Bancroft presents “Arsenic and Old Lace”
 by Nathan Countryman, Assistant Editor, Algona Upper Des Moines

BANCROFT—The classic play “Arsenic and Old Lace” will be presented on Thursday, August 18, Friday, August 19 and Sunday, August 21 at Main Street Pub and Grill.

“This play isn’t about sex or love,” said director Rev. Dr. Glenn Wilson. “It’s about murder.”

Recently, members of the cast took a chance to introduce their characters to those in attendance of the Party in the Park.

Rev. Robert Wolfert is playing the character of Teddy Brewster. He is convinced he is the president of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt, and is digging the locks of the Panama Canal in the basement of the Brewster house.

Rev. Dr. Glenn Wilson portrays Jonathan Brewster, who has received a bad plastic surgery job. The role was originally played by Boris Karloff, the actor made famous for playing Frankenstein and the Mummy.

Aunt Abby is played by Kate Thompson.

“My favorite line is ‘there is one gentleman in the basement that isn’t ours. The other 12 are our gentlemen,” Thompson said.

Victoria Koestler, co-president of Backstage in Bancroft, plays Dr. Witherspoon, the superintendent of the Happy Dale Sanitarium.

“All conventional households have secrets,” Koestler said.

Rev. Wayne Garman is portraying Mortimer Brewster, the titular character of the Mortimer household. He is a drama critic.

“Playwrights have no imagination and are killing theater,” Garman said was one of his favorite lines from the play.

Aunt Martha is played by Diane Wilson, a woman who loves to cook and mix up great things like elderberry wine.

“I take one gallon of elderberry wine and mix one teaspoon of arsenic, a half teaspoon of strychnine and a pinch of arsenic,” Diane said.

Director Glenn Wilson has had fun with working on the new theater start-up in Bancroft.

“Everything is new and takes building from the ground up many things that other theater groups have already done,” Glenn said. “We have a great cast, many of which have been acting for the first time.”


Glenn also praised Joseph Kesserling’s script as a drama that even new audiences could enjoy.

“Kesserling’s script holds up really well,” Glenn said. “He pokes fun at newspaper drama critics, and the script is a lot of fun.”

Tickets are currently on sale for the dinner theater of “Arsenic and Old Lace” to be shown on Thursday, August 18, Friday, August 19 and Sunday, August 21. Thursday and Friday’s shows begin at 6 p.m., and Sunday’s show begins at 4 p.m.  A social time begins at %;30 before the dinner on Thursday and Friday,  ON Sunday the meal follows the show.

The cost of the tickets is $30, with $20 going towards the four star meal meal.

“The staff of Main Street Pub and Grill will be serving a four star chicken cordon bleu, salad, potatoes and dessert,” Glenn said.

The other $10 goes to helping the new not for profit theater company starting up.

Advance tickets for the chicken cordon bleu meal need to be purchased by Friday, August 12.

The show has drawn talent from across Kossuth County and part of Hancock County for the production, including five different pastors in the roles of cast and crew.

“We’ve drawn talent from Algona, Burt, Titonka, Bancroft and Woden,” Glenn said.

Glenn also said that without Koestler and Charlie Kennedy’s work and vision, the creation of Backstage in Bancroft wouldn’t have been possible. Special thanks is also due John and Jan Hellman, owners of the host restaurant, the Main Street Pub and Grill in Bancroft.

Meet Out Great Cast of Characters! (And Get Your Tickets for the Play!)

The classic comedy, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” will be performed in a dinner theater at the Main Street Pub and Grill in Bancroft on Thursday, August 18, on Friday, August 19 and on Sunday, August 21.  

Start time on Thursday and Friday is 6 PM for dinner, preceded by a social time at 5:30 PM, with the performance after the dinner. On Sunday the performance begins at 4 PM with dinner afterward.  This show, popularized in a 1944 Cary Grant movie, is a great farce, with broad comic touches.

The year is 1941. The location is a pleasant house next to a cemetery, across from a church, in Brooklyn. In this house live two kind, thoughtful, sweet old ladies, Martha and Abby Brewster who have developed a very bad habit. It appears that they murder lonely old men who have some sort of religious affiliation and they consider doing it a charity, a kind of Christian mercy killing.  

The two women are assisted in their crimes by their mentally challenged nephew who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and who frequently blasts a bugle and yells "charge" as he bounds up the stairs. The aunts leave it to Teddy to take them to the Panama Canal (the cellar) and bury them. In the most recent case, they say the "poor fellow" suffers from yellow fever found in the window seat. It is another of their nephews Mortimer Brewster, a dramatic critic, who returns home only to find the man in the seat by mistake. Then the sinister nephew Jonathan, and his alcoholic friend, Dr. Einstein arrive, and all confusion breaks loose! 

Here are the cast members and the parts they play:

Mike Lavelle plays Mr. Gibbs, a gentleman looking for a quiet place to stay, who sees his life flash before his eyes when he is offered a glass of the aunt’s special, homemade elderberry wine.  It packs quite a kick.

Kate Thompson plays Aunt Abby Brewster: Abby, like her sister Martha, is old-fashioned. She appears to be a quite conservative elderly woman who values the conventions of the past. She attends church regularly and donates toys to the local Christian fund.   But she murders the older gentlemen as an act of” charity.”

Abby’s sister, Martha Brewster is played by Diane Wilson: Martha is as ironically old fashioned as her sister. She exhibits kindness and compassion with the neighbors and follows social conventions of behavior.

Mortimer Brewster, played by Rev. Wayne Garmen, exhibits genuine affection for his fiancée Elaine, his aunts, and for Teddy. As soon as he discovers the dead body in the window seat, his immediate goal is to protect his aunts. He bravely stands up to his brother Jonathan at the risk of his own safety.

Elaine Harper is played by Carole Bernhard. : Elaine exhibits a modern sensibility for a woman during the 1940’s She is self confident, quick witted, and "surprisingly smart for a minister's daughter."

Next we have the most fun character of all, the President of the United States, Teddy Brewster, played by Rev. Bob Wolfert: Teddy has lost all contact with reality, completely immersed in the delusion that he is Teddy Roosevelt. He covers up the aunts' murderous activities as he buries the dead bodies in the basement, which he insists contains the locks of the Panama Canal.

Then we have the famous Dr. Einstein, played by Shelly Pederson: Dr. Einstein, Jonathan's evil sidekick. He adds to the comedy through his alcoholic tendencies, which cause him to remake Jonathan into the image of Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein.

The toughest cop in Brooklyn, Lt. Rooney, is played by Pat Berte– Rooney is a driven commander of her squad. She has a iron will and refuses to believe the “fantasy” of 13 bodies being buried in the cellar.

The loyal police person, the esteemed Officer Brophy, is played by Sharon Berte : Brophy has known the Brewster family for a long time, and helps in rescuing Mortimer and Klein from Jonathan's clutches.

The Reverend Dr.Harper, played by Charles Kennedy” has old-fashioned values, appreciating the "gentle virtues.”. His disapproval of the theater makes him initially wary of the union between his daughter Elaine and Mortimer.

Any police force has an officer who has more brawn than brain – on the Brooklyn police force it is Officer Klein, played by Benjamin Wilson: Klein, like his partner Brophy, appreciates the sisters' charity and believes them to be among the kindest inhabitants of the neighborhood.

Then we have the policewoman turned playwright, or should I say the playwright turned policewoman, the cute by clueless Officer O’Hara:: Officer O'Hara distinguishes herself from her fellow officers by the fact that he has written a play, only it is all in her head!

Dr. Witherspoon is played by Victoria Koestler – The respected psychologist and Superintendent of Happy Dale, she is very careful and meticulous, but is still swayed by the promise of a donation and the peace given by a glass of wine.


The sinister villain Jonathan Brewster is played by Glenn Wilson. Jonathan is a vicious criminal with a penchant for torture. He was "the kind of boy who liked to cut worms in two--with his teeth." He has no consideration for his aunts as he plots to turn their home into a “beauty parlor.” He is the father of all bad guys.

Come and Have A Night of Laughter and Smiles

 Backstage in Bancroft Players Production

Thurs., Aug. 18 • 5:30 pm
Fri., Aug. 19 • 5:30 pm
Sun., Aug. 21 • 4:00 pm
$30.00 -- Four Star Dinner and a Show
Main Street Pub & Grill • Bancroft, Iowa
Make your reservations early!
Limited seating.
For tickets or more information call
Jan Hellman at 515-885-0008

Arsenic and Old Lace (Whole Play) - Northside Theatre