Arsenic and Old Lace is a play about Mortimer Brewster, the only sane member of a family composed of homicidal maniacs. In this classic black comedy, Mortimer has recently gotten engaged, but must first deal with his brother, who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt; his two aunts, who like to take in old men and offer them poisoned wine; and another brother, who is a dangerous psychopath. The play examines themes of sanity, murder, and absurdity.
The Shrike is the story of Jim Downs, a mentally ill theater director whose wife, Ann, has ruined his mental health. Ann is a symbolic shrike, a sweet-seeming woman who is in fact a brutal psychological predator. She manipulates Downs without mercy, keeping him confined to the mental ward so that she can exercise complete power over him as revenge for his failure to succeed in his career and provide her with a lavish lifestyle.