"Wait Until Dark" by Dark and Stormy Productions at Gremlin Theatre

Minnesota Fringe is over and the new #TCTheater season has not yet begun, leaving a gap that we have come to count on Dark and Stormy Productions to fill. They came through again this year with a show that is literally dark, the 1966 Frederick Knott play Wait Until Dark. The previous two productions I've seen have used prolific local playwright Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation, but this one uses the original script (which was adapted into a 1967 film starring Audrey Hepburn). It's a gripping thriller with an unlikely heroine - a blind woman who uses her heightened other senses to outsmart a bunch of criminals to protect herself and her husband. As always with Dark and Stormy, this production features a talented cast, tight direction, and importantly for this show, a detailed design that pitches us unto total darkness and makes us feel like we're in that terrifying apartment. Wait Until Dark is playing at Gremlin Theatre through September 13, but you might want to see it before or during Labor Day Weekend, because after that the #TCTheater season comes in like a lion.

"Wait Until Dark" at Theatre in the Round

I first saw Frederick Knott's 1966 classic thriller Wait Until Dark, adapted by local playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, at Lyric Arts two years ago. The second time around, at Theatre in the Round aka the Twin Cities' oldest theater, may have been a bit less suspenseful since I knew what was coming, but it's still a thrilling story of a blind woman who outsmarts the criminals trying to do her in and uses her sightlessness to her advantage.

"Wait Until Dark" at Lyric Arts

Anoka's Lyric Arts Main Street Stage opens their 2016-2017 season with an updated version of the 1960s thriller Wait Until Dark. Living on the north side of the Twin Cities, it's a pretty easy jaunt up Highway 10 to Anoka, and I've come to enjoy the trip. Lyric Arts may be a community theater in the suburbs, housed in an old movie theater in charming downtown Anoka, but much of what you'll see there is as good as anything you could see on a professional stage in the Twin Cities. Wait Until Dark is one such example. It's a technically challenging show, with the very specific "dark" and fights and suspense and all, and this team pulls it off beautifully. I was literally on the edge of my seat with my hands over my mouth, terrified of the sounds coming from the stage as we sat in complete and utter darkness. If you're a Lyric Arts fan, or have never been, you don't want to miss this one, especially if you're on the north end of town. You may need to sleep with the light on for a night or two, but it's worth it.