The Nicholls Players are reviving a production of “Arsenic and Old Lace” on Thursday after Hurricane Gustav dashed hopes of a fall-semester run. The play, which runs Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., is a dark comedy including several elements of humor, as well as casual discussions of murder.

Jeannette Burke, general studies senior from Houma, plays Martha Brewster, one of the Brewster sisters in the play.

“They’re delightful old ladies and they have three very different nephews,” Burke said. “They’re somewhat off, but you can almost forgive them because they’re such a sweet little group of sisters. They seem to be in the know about what’s going on in their town. It’s been a really fun character.”

Although the characters are referred to as “sweet,” the nature of the play does not tread completely along those lines.

“It gets to the point where it’s a he-said, she-said thing and everybody’s talking about a body and who’s in charge for the killing of that body,” Burke said. “My character goes around poisoning little gentlemen and calls it charity! I’ve never done a dark comedy before. This has been a new thing for me.”

Kirk Savoie, education graduate from Schriever, plays the character of Teddy Brewster, the nephew of the Brewster sisters.

“Teddy is the nephew of the two old ladies and he’s crazy and he thinks that he’s Teddy Roosevelt. So it’s fun,” Savoie said. “I think I’m unlike him because I don’t think I’m Teddy Roosevelt, but I do like to see myself as being really random and crazy.”

There are positive and negative aspects of the play that the cast members take relatively well.

“It’s fun, it’s tiring, it’s funny because you get to work with goofy people,” Savoie said. “The cast is great. I look forward to working with them.”

Joey Pierce, English senior from Raceland, is the Nicholls Players’ president and cast make-up artist and plays the character Mortimer Brewster. Pierce discussed his character as he was making-up fellow cast member, Laura Templet.

“Along with being in the plays, I try to help out as much as I can,” Pierce said. “I’ve done make-up for several of the productions so I try to teach other people how to do it as well so they can learn as much as they can. I also work with costumes and warm up actors before shows.”

The character Mortimer is one of the main characters in the play, with more stage presence than most of the others.

“I play Mortimer Brewster, the only sane one of the Brewsters,” Pierce said. “I’m actually very not like my character for the most part. He really does not like the theater at all. He’s a dramatic critic and he hates his job. I kind of relate to him though because some of the things he gets frustrated with, I can understand where he’s coming from. And he is one of the only sane ones, so I like to think of myself as pretty level-headed.”

Stephanie Willett, general studies senior from Metairie, is one of the two stage managers of the production.

“Every day, me and the other stage manager come in early and set up the props, set up the stage and move furniture,” Willett said. “We make sure everyone’s getting their cues, walking in on time, and making sure they have their correct props.”

After Hurricane Gustav, Willett went from being assistant house manager and working with the ushers to being a cast member in the replacement production “Spoon River Anthology” in the fall of 2008. She has also been in the chorus for the Players’ production of “Oedipus” and has been assistant stage manager three times.

The play’s cast, some from the fall production and some new recruits, are excited about being a highlighted part of the Jubilee Festival of Arts and Humanities.

“I am incredibly excited to be a part of Jubilee. I honestly look forward to it every semester,” Pierce said. “It’s wonderful in the fact that there’s so much going on besides our production, although I love the fact that our production is a part of it, and Jubilee really is a big help for us because it helps advertise. It gets a lot of people in our area interested in the arts and I think it’s a wonderful thing.