A little murder with your date night: “Arsenic and Old Lace” in Bradenton

A date with the Brewsters

If the hardest part of date night has become picking something neither of you has already watched, I’d put Arsenic and Old Lace on the list.

The Manatee Players production is running in the Bradenton Kiwanis Theater at Manatee Performing Arts Center. The venue’s current schedule and production program list September 3–20, giving Parrish readers a September option in downtown Bradenton.

The premise does a lot of the selling: a theater critic discovers that his apparently lovely aunts have been poisoning lonely men. His family problem is suddenly much bigger than an awkward conversation over dinner.

Joseph Kesselring’s play is a dark comedy built around that collision of proper manners and thoroughly improper behavior. If murder played for laughs is your kind of evening, this is a promising change from another round of scrolling through streaming menus.[1][2]

The people behind the chaos

Shawn Genther plays Mortimer Brewster, the critic trying to deal with the discovery. Barbara Farruggia is Abby Brewster, and LuAnne Pezel plays Martha. Jim Floyd directs the production.

There are some good local connections in the program. Genther’s previous Manatee appearances include And Then There Were None, The 39 Steps and Misery. Mark Heuberger, who plays Teddy Brewster, is a retired pastor and lifelong Bradenton resident, according to his cast biography.

That’s part of the appeal of making room for community theater in a nearby night out: the cast has a history in these rooms, and the program gives you a few of those stories before the lights go down.

This production lists two 15-minute intermissions. I’d give the show the evening and put dinner before it, with some breathing room between the check arriving and curtain time. The program does not publish a total running time, so a tightly timed reservation afterward would be a gamble.[2]

The details that make the evening easier

The performing arts center is at 502 Third Avenue W. in Bradenton. Make sure the performance you choose is Arsenic and Old Lace in the Bradenton Kiwanis Theater; Stone Hall has a separate schedule.

Bradenton Gulf Islands’ event listing advertises $32.50. Check the amount for your chosen performance, including any fees, through the venue’s ticket link. For help by phone, the box office is 941-748-5875; its published weekday hours are 9 a.m.–5 p.m., with service also listed for the hour before a show.

Do give yourself time to arrive. The production program says late admission is not guaranteed. That’s a better reason to finish dinner early than any lecture about theater etiquette.

Curbside drop-off is available beneath the covered front entrance. The venue also lists additional public parking east of the building, beyond the railroad tracks. For accessible seating, call the box office when choosing tickets.

My pick: make the performance the main event. Choose the date first, build dinner around it, and let the Brewster family handle the evening’s complications.[1][2][3][4]