(Seguin) — The Texas Theatre is offering audiences a thrilling time this Halloween weekend. The final three performances of “Wait Until Dark” will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Texas Theatre in downtown Seguin.
Director Pat Hoppe says it’s a great story and one she thinks the community will love.
“It has all the things that you might want in a mystery. It has a leading lady. It has bad men who are there. It has a sassy little neighbor upstairs. It has all sorts of things and it’s scary. Part of it takes place in the dark, because she is blind. So, she has to figure out a way to save her life from these bad characters,” said Hoppe.
Dawn Wright Calvert portrays Susan, a blind woman who must fight back against con men looking to take advantage of her. It’s a role made famous by Audrey Hepburn in the popular 1967 film adaptation.
“I’ve had my eye on this role for probably most of my life. My dad was an actor back in the day, back in the 60s and 70s, and I remember him telling me about doing this show and how much he loved doing it. It’s always been in the back of my mind that if I ever came across it when I was in the right age range, I was going to try for it. When I heard that the Texas Theatre was doing it, I was really excited because I’ve been wanting to work with Texas Theatre for a long time now, so it was great that things just kind of lined up. I wasn’t working on anything else at the time and it was a good fit. The script is really fun and spunky and it just makes it easy for a good read and it’s just an exciting play to work on. It’s been so much fun,” said Calvert.
Calvert says there are a number of challenges that come with playing a character who cannot see. She says it’s been exciting preparing for this role.
“Obviously I am sighted, so I needed to kind of reference some additional materials to help me out. We’ve blindfolded me and moved me around the set that way. And this sounds kind of silly, but I was advised to watch the Daredevil show on Netflix, because evidently the lead there does a very good job of portraying someone who’s not sighted,” said Calvert.
Greg Dew is the theater’s managing director. He says “Wait Until Dark” will not just be a challenge for Calvert and the other actors on stage. He says it will also test the senses of the audience.
“One of the things we’re doing is to try to make it more immersive and to bring the audience into the lead character’s perspective and how dependent she is on sound. And so not only is it a darker show than what you usually see. We do brightly lit musicals and comedies as parts of it are in absolute darkness. Other parts of it are very dark. But we’re going to do a lot more with sound in this show than we have in many shows, because that’s how the visually impaired person perceives the world primarily,” said Dew.
Dew says the timing is perfect for this show. He says it’s another solid addition to the theater’s lineup this season.
“We’re trying to introduce some different things as we do more programs and more live theater at the Texas to give some variety. So, it’s not the same thing every time you come. We do still try to do something exciting and fun in October to fit the Halloween theme and thus the thriller and the mystery. This also happens to be Blindness Awareness Month so, the show really fits into that. And this is the last show in our season, that you may remember as we’ve had several shows just over the past year that feature women who dare. Strong women characters who take on the challenges of life,” said Dew.
Audiences are advised that the show features flashing lights, total darkness and some violence. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available online at thetexas.org.