This Week on Mystery Theatre:
Arsenic, Old Lace, and Obnoxious Padre

For a gallon of elderberry wine, I take one teaspoonful of arsenic, then add a half teaspoonful of strychnine, and then just a pinch of cyanide.

That’s Aunt Martha’s recipe for wine with a kick (as in kick the bucket) from Joseph Kesselring’s dark-comedy classic Arsenic and Old Lace, and it’s too bad Jonathan Brewster and Dr. Einstein didn’t get the message.

<<< Dr. Einstein (Matt Henderson) and  Johnathan Brewster (Alex Blair) in Prime Stage Theatre’s Arsenic and Old Lace.

The same can be said for Humphry Jones and Janet Kessinger in Prime Stage Mystery Theatre’s “A Most Deadly Poison.” When we left them in last week’s episode, Janet has just fallen to the floor after downing a glass of Obnoxious Padre wine. She should have known it wasn’t safe to drink. The truth was on the label.

Last week, folks attending the preview and opening night performances of Arsenic and Old Lace had the chance to examine that label at a Mystery Theatre display in the lobby of Pittsburgh’s New Hazlett Theatre.

Also on hand at the display were bottles of Stained Fork Ale and Roast’d knife IPA, as well as a mug of Goofy Odour Tea and some shortbread cookies labeled simply  A Set of Tea Biscuits. The challenge was to interpret each of those labels and determine which selections (if any) might have been poisoned.

Audience members ponder the “Most Deadly Poison” clues before Prime Stage’s preview performance of Arsenic and Old Lace.>>>

Rising to the challenge much better than the character in “A Most Deadly Poison,” some of the folks attending last week’s performances had the puzzle solved by intermission, and you’ll get to hear their insights on upcoming Mystery Theatre episodes, starting with the one that drops today via your favorite podcast app.

Also, if you stop by the Mystery Theatre page at the Prime Stage website, you’ll find a newly designed menu for navigating the current and past chapters of the series. It’s a great way to follow the multi-episode adventures of super sleuth August LaFleur and the New Towne Players. And for those of you who want to cut right to the solution of the Obnoxious Padre puzzle, the button below will let you dive straight into this week’s episode, which also features an interview with Arsenic director Liam Macik.

Click play … and I’ll meet you there!