Abigail Ensinger | February 11, 2026
Huntington University Performing Arts students work hard year-round to put on amazing productions. The most recent production, Arsenic and Old Lace, is no exception. From performing onstage to costume design, HU students put everything into their craft.
Kaleb Mantle (Mortimer Brewster) sits tied up with a gag in his mouth in the third act of the show
In the third act of Arsenic and Old Lace, Mortimer Brewster, played by Kaleb Mantle, sits tied up in a chair as Officer O’Hara, played by Izzie McVoy, explains her play. This is just one part of the zany comedy that is Arsenic and Old Lace. From murderous aunts to a nephew who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, there are twists and turns in every scene.
Performing arts majors and non-majors were able to participate in this show. The show’s lead Kaleb Mantle had never been in a Huntington University production until this year but decided to participate because “Mortimer Brewster was kind of a dream character of [his].”
“You get to understand more about the characters when you can make the clothes they’re wearing,” said Paige Martin, who played Elaine, about both working in the costume shop and participating in the production. She had the opportunity to work on one of her own costumes for the show, which helped her to learn more about her character: “This is what she chose to put on. Why is she putting that on?”
In the words of Izzie McVoy, a vocal performance major, who is balancing multiple productions simultaneously, “I have all of these random lines floating around in my brain, and then I also randomly just have to remember Italian. McVoy is currently preparing for Concerto in a couple of months and found it difficult to memorize both her lines for the production and her music for the concert. This was not the only challenge faced by the cast; Arsenic and Old Lace’s auditions took place in the midst of rehearsals of others, such as Journey in Jazz and Troupe. In addition, the auditions for the next production were held during rehearsals for Arsenic and Old Lace.
“It’s chaotic but also really fun. I really like to be busy, and so having multiple jobs obviously allows for that,” Renee Preston commented about being a costume designer, wardrobe supervisor, and understudy to Martha in Arsenic and Old Lace. Preston participated in a costume design class last semester that allowed her to design for the production: “I started with hearing the vision from the director and what direction she wanted to take the show. Then I found research images online that were period accurate and pictures that I could show the director what direction I was thinking in my design.”
Not only was Preston involved in many roles in this production, but she will also direct the next Huntington University production, The Witness for the Prosecution—an Agatha Christie courtroom drama with its own challenges. According to Preston, “It’s definitely a new thing to be very much in charge in production meetings, especially with a lot of the people in there being my professor or professional theater artists in the world and reminding myself that I know what I’m doing.”
No matter what the production is, you can be sure that the Huntington University Performing Arts Department is hard at work. Paige Martin observed that in Arsenic and Old Lace, “you can constantly see the work that people have put into it.” Director Renee Preston is excited to “have a piece in making the cohesion of everyone’s ideas come together” for her next production, The Witness for the Prosecution, which will be shown from March 25-27, 2026, in the MCA’s Studio Theatre
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