About the Play:

Wait Until Dark is a psychological thriller by Frederick Knott. Everyone can see danger coming their way. Except an unsuspecting blind woman. She might have a dangerous prize that a trio of murderous crooks want to get their hands on. Using her wits and her wiles, she discovers she's not afraid of anything. Not even the dark. A Broadway hit, Wait Until Dark is a masterfully constructed thriller that moves from one moment of suspense to another as it builds toward an electrifying, breath-stopping final scene.

Wait Until Dark follows the story of recently-blinded Susy who, left alone in her apartment, becomes embroiled with a psychotic killer and his accomplices hatching an elaborate scam. A cool-as-ice con man, Roat, and two ex-convicts, Mike and Carlino, are about to meet their match. They have traced the location of a mysterious doll, which they are much interested in, to the Greenwich Village apartment of Sam Hendrix and his wife, Susy. Sam had apparently been persuaded by a strange woman to transport the doll across the Canadian border, not knowing that sewn inside were several grams of heroin. When the woman is murdered the situation becomes more urgent. The con man and his gang, through a cleverly constructed deception, convince Susy that the police have implicated Sam in the woman's murder, and the doll, which she believes is the key to his innocence, is evidence. She refuses to reveal its location, and with the help of a young neighbour, figures out she is the victim of a bizarre charade. As the tension notches up, Susy is left to fend for herself, but with the telephone line cut, can Susy outwit the murderous visitors? When Roat kills his associates, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues between the two. Susy knows the only way to play fair is by her rules, so when darkness falls she smashes all the light-bulbs in her apartment leaving both of them to maneuver in the dark until the game ends. Wait Until Dark is rightfully considered a classic thriller that will keep your audience on the edge of their seat.

Wait Until Dark premiered in 1966 on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and ran for 11 months before moving to the London stage for an even longer engagement. The celebrated film adaptation was produced in 1967, and is often ranked as one of the top 100 scariest films of all time. Wait Until Dark is often revived and has continued to deliver tense thrills and gasps of fright from regional, school and community theatre audiences.

Cast: 1 female, 6 male, 1 girl

What people say:

"A good scare is the point of most thrillers, and ...Wait Until Dark delivers a spellbinding final scene that fulfills the promise of the play's, and the subsequent movie's, reputation as a classic." — New York Times

"Wait Until Dark is a tense thriller." — New York World-Telegram & Sun

"Frederick Knott is a master craftsman…." — Women's Wear Daily

"…a first rate shocker…the suspense drama we've long awaited eagerly." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Frederick Knott (1916-2002) was an English playwright and screenwriter known for his ingeniously complex, crime-related plots. Born in Hankow, China to English missionaries, he earned a law degree from Cambridge University. He served in the British Army from 1939 to 1946, and eventually moved to the United States. He wrote three enormously successful stage thrillers, Dial M for Murder, Write Me a Murder, and Wait Until Dark. They had long runs on Broadway and in the West End of London, and two were later made into films.