‘Wait Until Dark’ play will thrill audience from edge of its seat

Suspense will weigh heavily on audiences in “Wait Until Dark,” a claustrophobic thriller presented by the Liberty University Department of Theatre Arts from Oct. 13-22 in The Box Theater.

The show, which was adapted into a 1967 film starring Audrey Hepburn, traps audiences inside a small Greenwich Village (New York City) apartment with protagonist Suzy, who is blind, and three criminals. The villains are in search of a heroin-filled doll, which has come into Suzy’s possession through a mix-up. While Liberty’s production is set in the 1960s and is faithful to the source material, the show doesn’t imitate the movie. Rather, the cast of eight, supported by a 10-person student crew, provides a fresh take on the story.

“The acting is very naturalistic — you have to ‘buy’ the performances,” said Scott Hayes, the show’s director and dean of Liberty’s School of Visual & Performing Arts. “A thriller demands that the story unfolds in something like real time, so the actors have to remember that the words they are saying and the actions they are playing, while well-rehearsed, have to be played as if they are spur of the moment.”

The recent opening of The Box Theater has allowed Liberty to bring more intimate productions to its mainstage lineup. The new, smaller theater provides a more immersive audience experience compared with the Broadway-caliber spectacle brought by Tower Theater productions.

“The audience will feel very, very close to the action, and that is deliberate on our part,” Hayes said. “The intimate and flexible space allows us to get rid of a separation between the audience and the actors, and I think that will really enhance the audience experience of the thriller. The set and space feel more like what you’d see on a movie or television show. That also means we have to be executing at a very high level, because the audience will be able to see every action, facial expression, prop handling, etc.”

Senior theatre performance student Sarah Jirgal has embraced the challenge of playing Suzy, whom she studied thoroughly early in her education for a class project.

“She is actually one of my favorite characters from all of the plays that I have read,” Jirgal said. “Being put in a situation that is so critical, she really has to use the strength that is inside of her and is natural for her and get rid of any fear when she is faced with death, literally.”

Some of the drama comes from the audience being able to see what is happening around Suzy even though she cannot.

“You see the other characters (the villains) flipping the blinds or wiping stuff down or giving looks to one another,” Jirgal said. “She can’t see that, yet she perceives it; she uses her other senses. She figures things out very quickly and creatively. She really depends on her other senses and uses them to her benefit rather than letting blindness cripple her.”

The role has stretched Jirgal as an actress.

“I have really had to activate my mind so much that I almost zone out with my eyesight and I see past people,” Jirgal said. “That has been a challenge but it has also been really cool because I come out of the show and I have to reset my eyes and actually look people in the eye for the first time in a couple hours.”

Jirgal said that while the material is not explicitly Christian, there are many spiritual truths that audiences should pick up on, especially in regard to the battle between light and darkness.

Hayes added that characters like Roat — the antagonist who seems to function with no moral compass — offer a glimpse into the depravity of the world, giving an opportunity for a truthful reflection of the state of humanity.

“There is some truth that this is an accurate depiction of our human condition apart from Christ,” Hayes said, teasing a redemptive element to the ending. “Suffice it to say, the end works as an allegory for John 1:5: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’.”

To purchase tickets, visit the Tower Theater website or call the Liberty University Box Office at (434) 582-SEAT (7328) during weekday business hours. On the night of a performance, call the Tower Box Office at (434) 582-2085.