EDMONDS — “Wait Until Dark” was first performed 50 years ago on Broadway. In the 1960s, newspapers in New York called the play “a tense thriller” and a “first-rate shocker.”
With a mid-century modern vibe to it, the thriller is set in a basement apartment in Greenwich Village when the beatnik scene there was evolving into more drugs and crime.
Funny how some writing is fairly timeless, especially when it involves human vulnerability and fear. Change the costumes, some of the references, the black rotary dial phone and the photo prints hanging on a clothesline, and it could be set in today’s urban culture.
A production of “Wait Until Dark” by the Edmonds Driftwood Players runs through Oct. 2.
The focus of the play’s scary game, which keeps audiences wide awake, is a rag doll filled with a bag of heroin. Photographer Sam Hendrix who lives in the apartment has innocently brought the doll over the border from Canada as a favor to a woman who ends up murdered.
An evil con man named Roat, who knows the dead woman, and a couple of former convicts, Mike and Carlino, are looking for the doll, all hoping to get rich quick.
However, they haven’t yet met Sam’s wife Susy, who is blind but whip smart.
The three criminals try to convince Susy that her husband will be charged with the murder of the woman unless she can produce the doll.
Gloria, a little girl who lives upstairs, has taken the doll to play with it. When she fesses up and returns the doll, Susy gets Gloria’s help to outsmart the bad guys.
The tormentors engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse, but when night falls, Susy decides she must beat them to save her own life.
The star of this production is Caroline Rensel who plays Susy. At the final dress rehearsal, no programs were distributed. The audience had no idea whether Rensel was really blind or not. Her deep-set staring eyes and polished physical hesitancy were entirely believable. This is Rensel’s first show at Driftwood.
Zoe Papadakis, a Seattle fifth-grader and Book-It Repertory veteran, also is believable as Gloria, the precocious neighbor kid.
Jonathan Keyes, as Sam, also is making his Driftwood debut. He completed Intiman Theatre’s emerging artist program during the summer.
Thomas A. Glass, as Roat, has appeared in productions with Driftwood and Red Curtain.
Morgan Peeler was often funny as the bumbling criminal Carlino. Peeler previously was seen in “Other People’s Money” at Driftwood.
Another Seattle actor and Intiman graduate, Will Lippman does a nice job as Mike, the other ex-con. His scenes with Susy were especially good.
The cast is directed by Ian Stewart, who also works with Book-It. The production staff includes Joanne Branch, Anabel Hovig, Jan Cobb, Nancy Johnson, Rex Goulding, Keny Dutton, Brian Lechner, Sean McKay, Vicky Lynn Maxey, Meagan McDonald and Judy Anne Eaton.
If you go
Edmonds Driftwood Players presents “Wait Until Dark” through Oct. 2 at the Wade James Theater, 950 Main St., Edmonds.
Performances are 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $25, general; $22 for seniors, juniors and military. Call 425-774-9600.
More at www.edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
