An interview with Father Gerard J. Schubert O.S.F.S., founder of the DeSales University theater department and The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, is a master class in theater.

Schubert gets right to point regarding the appeal of "Arsenic and Old Lace," Sept. 26 - Oct. 7, Main Stage, Labuda Center for the Arts, DeSales University, Center Valley.

"The incongruity of it, of two delightfully Victorian old ladies, charming, peaceful, hospitality all those nice things. But at the same time, they're assisting people with suicide by poisoning them. That's an incongruity of a major order," Schubert says.

"An incongruity is one of the fundamental basic sources of humor. All farce, of course, has physical humor in it. But, again, the physical humor in this play revolves around two corpses.

"The play is really a far-out farce, but it's very funny," Schubert continues. "The idea of sending people off to their great reward is mad. Well, the entire family is the mad Brewsters. They're all crazy.

"I think anybody can laugh at this [play] six to 80 will have no trouble to see this as funny. Farce is a great thing. There aren't as many farces as there is comedy.

"It has to do all these outrageous things without going over the top. There's an edge there. If you go too far, it's not funny anymore. It can't be that we're trying to make you laugh. It's just that these situations are so funny that you can't help but laugh.

Having directed "Arsenic and Old Lace" twice previously for DeSales' Act 1 program, what, if anything, is Schubert doing differently this time?

"Every production of the same play is different. And the difference comes from the relationship of the director to the designers and the relationship of the director to the students. They're all different."

Are there any particular insights into "Arsenic and Old Lace" that Schubert has, compared to when he directed the play before?

"This ['Arsenic and Old Lace'] is the first play that I ever directed. I directed this play when I was 22-years-old at a high school in Niagara Falls in New York. I was student-teaching at the high school. I got a chance to direct because the director was seeking to be changed to another high school.

"All Oblates of St. Frances de Sales get a masters to teach. From the beginning, I wanted to work in theater, if they so chose. They might say, 'Teach history,' and I would not have enjoyed doing that as much as teaching theater, for which I had a propensity and some gift."

All these years later, Schubert still enjoys directing theater.

"It's very interesting to study the process of creativity. And that's what I like about directing, helping the students to get the word off the page and onto the stage. We're working to get everybody to do as best as he or she can. When that happens, the pieces fall together and the play begins to emerge."

And that would be "Arsenic and Old Lace," a theater classic directed by a classic of theater.