Thanks to the tightening of airport security, modern audiences know that an innocent doll from a stranger is never just an innocent doll from a stranger. The setting for Frederick Knott’s Wait Until Dark, the first of the Alley Theatre’s Summer Chills shows, is a simpler time, however. Sam Hendrix unwittingly accepts a drug-harboring doll from a fellow passenger who says she wants to hide the doll – a gift – from her child. Riiiight. Sam, of course, believes her, and ends up bringing the doll home and putting his wife, Susy, recently blinded by a fire, in grave peril.
Sam is lured away from the apartment, while Susy is left to confront a band of angry thugs eager to find the stashed narcotics. With her world engulfed in darkness, Susy must outwit the three smugglers to keep the drugs safely hidden and save her own life. But this blind woman may be capable of more than you think. Head into the Dark at 8 p.m.
July 1-16
This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2006.