Review By Brandon Brady

Susy Hendrix must learn to embrace the dark side. A year after a tragic accident, she is still adjusting to her blindness. She struggles between asking for help and becoming self-sufficient, seeking the right balance between the two. This struggle ultimately lies at the center of Downtown Theatre Classics' (DTC) well-balanced take on Fredrick Knott's classic suspense thriller, Wait Until Dark.

The suspense doesn't come easily for those familiar with the tale, depicted onscreen in 1967 by Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin. The devious and manipulative Harry Roat Jr. (Greg Procaccino) enlists the aid of Mike Talman (Mike Bizarri) and Sgt. Carlino (Michael Bath) in an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse with the helpless, defenseless Susy (Regina Pugh). A child's doll, used in a smuggling operation, is supposedly in her possession; Roat desperately wants its contents. Like any good villain, he will stop at nothing to retrieve it. But Susy isn't as helpless or as defenseless as she first appears. Or is she?

Knott's script hinges on the ever-changing game of one-upmanship between Susy and Roat. Pugh and Procaccino make their characters' game-playing lively despite the play's inevitable ending. Procaccino, in particular, captures his character, making Roat a charming sleaze of a villain. He carefully ashes his cigarette in a glass container while he unfolds his plan. He changes his accent to serve his purpose. Roat is in control, and he relishes every minute of it. It's almost expected for Procaccino to let off an evil, maniacal laugh, but he does it silently showing twisted delight in Susy's plight.

Pugh has it a bit tougher, because her role lacks the almost-campy qualities that Procaccino handles so well. Susy is a tortured woman, terrorized not just by Roat and his accomplices but by her own disability. She pulls it off, never leaving any doubt that Susy is blind. She stumbles naturally over misplaced furniture, clearly tired of suffering. Her frustration becomes all the more evident in a heated exchange with the young Gloria (a perfectly bratty Rebecca Whatley), who assists Susy with her grocery shopping.

Susy's blindness almost becomes an afterthought in Act 2, thanks to Pugh's performance. As Susy slowly unveils the plot surrounding her, Pugh moves her character from a blind woman to a fully capable woman who just happens to be blind. Then, as Susy shows, she can be Roat's equal, and the fun really begins.

As Roat's assistants, Bizarri and Bath are almost by-the-book portraits, neither adding to nor detracting from the play. Though appearing in virtually every scene, Bizarri doesn't fully capitalize on the complexities of his character, a wavering of the good and bad within one person. Bath fares somewhat better, injecting Sgt. Carlino with a nice dose of comedy as he almost obsessively dusts the apartment free of his fingerprints.

DTC remains particularly faithful to the film version, down to the Hendrix's Greenwich Village basement apartment, beautifully designed by Harwood Gordon, which strikes an eerie familiarity with just the right amount of modern-day touches. But under the direction of Mark Mocahbee and fight director Drew Fracher, Wait Until Dark offers some nice jolts to keep the play fresh -- not an easy task when much of the climax takes place in the dark.

Lighting designer Susan Terrano does wonderful things with varying degrees of light, from a lit cigarette to broken hallway lights to the street lamps outside. Just enough of the action can be seen throughout the final confrontation between Susy and Roat to keep the play both interesting and exciting.

Wait Until Dark is a suitable conclusion to Downtown Theatre Classics' 1999-2000 season, which has been eventful onstage and off. But with this balanced production, Downtown Theatre Classics seems to have come back into the light.

E-mail Brandon Brady

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