Stage West to Present WAIT UNTIL DARK, Beginning 5/26

Susan Hendrix is working hard to become self-reliant, having lost her sight fairly recently in a car wreck. It's no easy task--but things are about to get a whole lot harder, as her apartment is invaded by some ruthless thieves, in Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of the Frederick Knott thriller Wait Until Dark, beginning its 5-week run at Stage West on Thursday, May 26.

Susan's photographer husband Sam frequently travels for his work; returning home after one such trip, he finds that a woman he met briefly has apparently slipped a doll into his bag. He has no idea that it is hiding a cache of diamonds. Before he can find some way to return it, he is called away on a job, leaving Susan alone. And then the criminals show up, first one, then another, playing out an elaborate charade designed to get the doll back. Things go from bad to worse when the sadistic Roat decides he wants the proceeds for himself, and Susan is forced to fight for her life however she can, with a little help from Gloria, a teenage upstairs neighbor. This classic thriller is sure to have audiences on the edges of their seats.

The play was written, and originally set, in the 1960s, but adapter Hatcher chose to move it to the 40s. Hatcher explains "There's something wildly white and suburban about the people who live there. It doesn't have any of the '60s vibe at all...Once we decided it should take place in the mid-1940s, then a lot of men are away at war and the men who are left behind... some are broken and some are dangerous. It opened up [a] lot of possibilities." [quoted in Playbill]

"a terrific premise, an enthralling lead character, and a whopper of a climax." Jon Magaril, CurtainUp Los Angeles

Frederick Knott was born in China, the son of English missionaries. He was educated at Oundle School from 1929 to 1934, later gaining a law degree from Cambridge University. He served in the British Army from 1939 to 1946, and eventually moved to the United States. Knott only wrote three plays during his lifetime, yet his spine-tingling thrillers ran successfully on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s, and have been standards in regional theatre and touring productions throughout the world. His most famous script, Dial M for Murder, was rejected several times before playing successfully on British television in the early 1950s. It then hit the London stage to rave reviews. In 1952 the play opened on Broadway, and in 1954 was adapted by Knott into a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. His second most popular play, Wait Until Dark, ran for 374 performances on Broadway in 1966. In 1967 the play was made into a popular film of the same name, and it was revived on Broadway in 1998. His third play, Write Me a Murder, opened on Broadway in 1961 and ran for twenty-five weeks. Knott died in New York City in 2002.

Jeffrey Hatcher's Broadway credits include Never Gonna Dance (book). Off-Broadway credits include Three Viewings, A Picasso, Scotland Road, The Turn of the Screw, Tuesdays With Morrie, Murder By Poe, and The Spy. Other credits/theaters include: Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Mrs. Mannerly, Murderers, Mercy of a Storm, and others with such theatres as The Guthrie, Old Globe, Yale Rep, The Geffen, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Intiman, and dozens more in the U.S. and abroad. Grants/Awards include NEA, TCG, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Charles MacArthur Fellowship Award, Barrymore Award Best New Play, and IVEY Award Best New Play. He is a member and/or alumnus of The Playwrights Center, the Dramatists Guild, the Writers Guild, and New Dramatists.

Wait Until Dark is directed by Stage West Artistic Director Jim Covault, who last directed Stage West's The Explorers Club. The cast features Executive Producer Dana Schultes as Susan, and Managing Director Mark Shum as the ruthless Roat (the role will be played by Joe Alberti June 9-12). Appearing as the sympathetic Mike will be Jake Buchanan, recently seen as Billy in Circle Theatre's Clever Little Lies, with Thomas Ward, last at Stage West in his play International Falls, as Carlino. Susan's husband Sam will be played by David Wilson-Brown, whose credits include Happy in Death of a Salesman for Madison Repertory Theatre, while Cate Stuart, seen as Fern in the Dallas Children's Theater production of Charlotte's Web, makes her Stage West debut as the neighbor Gloria.

The set will be designed by Clare Floyd Devries, who designed the sets for Stage West's Sexy Laundry and The Explorers Club, with lighting design by Texas Wesleyan professor Bryan Stevenson, and costume design by Jeremy Bernardoni. Sound design is by Kellen Voss, fight choreography by Jakie Cabe, and props by Lynn Lovett.

Wait Until Dark will preview Thursday, May 26 at 7:30 and Friday, May 27 at 8:00, and will run through Sunday, June 26. Performance times will be Thursday evenings at 7:30, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00, with Sunday matinees at 3:00. The opening night reception will be Saturday, May 28. Ticket prices range from $31 to $35, with discounts for the preview performance, and for students, seniors, and military. Food service is available 90 minutes prior to performances (reservations are necessary), and the Friday Prix Fixe special (dinner and show for $45) will be available beginning June 3. Reservations and information are available through the Box Office (817-784-9378), or on the website, www.stagewest.org.

Photo by Buddy Myers

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