alphabetical author index

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

  • Tim Kelly
  • Full Length Play, Comedy
  • 8M, 5F, 1M or F
  • ISBN: 9780874407525

A murderously daffy romp that plays like The Addams Family meets Arsenic and Old Lace. Excellent audience response...

San Fernando Prompter

  • Full Length Play
  • Comedy


  • Accolades:
  • Winner! Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence
There's dirty work afoot at Ye Olde Wayside Inn, home of the eccentric Saltmarshes, Hepzibah and Arabelia, Cousin Ebenezer, and old Uncle Silas, oldest living lunatic in Massachusetts. The inn is also haunted by the ghost of an old soldier who deserted Washington at Valley Forge.

Foul weather turns Cousin Ebenezer grim and dangerous, and he lures victims to the inn to get revenge for a past wrong. So when a storm forces several strangers to take shelter at the Inn, the chilling - or is it killing? - time begins! Among those forced to spend a grim night at the inn are a hard-nosed detective, some young nurses who think that Uncle Silas is their patient (he isn't), a couple of college students, a state trooper, and a key witness to a brutal crime.

But not everyone is what he or she appears to be - and who is that skeleton in the wheelchair and why is it wearing a bridal veil? Who will survive this dark and stormy night? Sure to delight all those who love their mystery with a twist and a giggle.

REVIEWS:

A murderously daffy romp that plays like “The Addams Family,” meets Arsenic and Old Lace' - excellent audience response…

San Fernando Prompter
Premiere Production: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night was first performed on February 11, 1988 by the Coldwater Community Theater at the historic Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater, Michigan.
  • Casting: 8M, 5F, 1M or F
  • Casting Attributes: Roles for Children

  • HEPZIBAH SALTMARSH - elderly spinster, eccentric
    ARABELLA - her cousin, also eccentric
    OLIVE - hired girl, quite odd
    EBENEZER - another Saltmarsh cousin, insane
    JANE ADAMS - job applicant and thief
    MARY SHAW - another applicant
    SNELL - state trooper
    ED PERKINS - cab driver, college student
    DOROTHY BLAKE - Mary's younger sister
    BELLE MALIBU - vital witness
    DAWSON - hard-nosed detective
    UNCLE SILAS - oldest maniac in Massachusetts
    SMILING SAM* - the beauty man
    EUPHEMIA - aspiring nurse

    *This role can be switched to female, if desired. If so, the character becomes SMILING SAL, "the beauty gal."
  • Name Price
    It Was a Dark and Stormy Night Script Order Now

    There's dirty work afoot at Ye Olde Wayside Inn, home of the eccentric Saltmarshes, Hepzibah and Arabelia, Cousin Ebenezer, and old Uncle Silas, oldest living lunatic in Massachusetts. The inn is also haunted by the ghost of an old soldier who deserted Washington at Valley Forge. Foul weather turns Cousin Ebenezer grim and dangerous, and he lures victims to the inn to get revenge for a past wrong. So when a storm forces several strangers to take shelter at the Inn, the chilling - or is it killing? - time begins! Among those forced to spend a grim night at the inn are a hard-nosed detective, some young nurses who think that Uncle Silas is their patient (he isn't), a couple of college students, a state trooper, and a key witness to a brutal crime. But not everyone is what he or she appears to be - and who is that skeleton in the wheelchair and why is it wearing a bridal veil? Who will survive this dark and stormy night? Sure to delight all those who love their mystery with a twist and a giggle.

    $24.95