Dark comedy comes to Temple Emanu-El

Members of Temple Emanu-El are preparing to show the community that even murder can be funny — when it happens in a play, that is.

The Temple Emanu-El Players, a theater group comprised of about 20 congregants that was formed in 1988, will present “Arsenic & Old Lace” to the community on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m.; and on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 2 p.m. The group hopes audiences who come to the temple, located at 123 Merrick Ave., will enjoy the classic dark comedy.

The play, written by Joseph Kesserling, is centered around the characters Aunt Abby (Andrea Conwell) and Aunt Martha (Gail Elis). The pair murders lonely old men by poisoning them with elderberry wine containing arsenic, strychnine and a pinch cyanide.

Abby and Martha also have three brothers. Teddy (Steven Epstein) thinks he’s President Theodore Roosevelt and is digging the Panama Canal in the cellar of the house, which also contains the graves of the murdered men. Jonathan (Gary Conwell) is a villain whose face has received plastic surgery performed by his inebriated accomplice, Dr. Einstein (Barry Friedlander). Boris Karloff played Dr. Einstein’s role on Broadway. The only sane member of the family is a brother named Mortimer (Dan Rosner), a drama critic who must deal with his family and police.

Elliot Solomon, the producer of the Temple Emanu-El production, said the group puts on a non-musical show in the winter; they also produce a spring musical. Past “straight shows” have ranged from Neil Simon comedies to “The Diary of Annie Frank.”

Jon Parker, who has been acting in and producing theatrical productions across Long Island for more than 20 years, is directing “Arsenic & Old Lace” at the temple. He suggested the group put on this show because not only does it have a large cast, but also features unique and very funny dialogue that he thinks audiences will enjoy.

“It’s not really a belly laugh show — you’re going to have to think fast because the jokes come fast,” he explained. “It’s a very witty show and different from what they’re used to seeing here.”