Quadramics' 'Until Dark' to be out of sight

Outta sight. That's what the climax of Quadramics' production of Frederick Knott's suspense thriller Wait Until Dark will be when the show opens tonight in the Annenberg School Theater. According to Director and College senior Doug Gilmartin, the high point of the show takes place during a five minute blackout in which the audience must use all their senses, except sight, to follow the action on stage. Gilmartin explained that the show focuses on three con men's attempts to obtain a doll stuffed with drugs from a blind woman named Susy. Eventually, Susy catches on and attempts to thwart their plans. The theater's darkness is designed to put the audience on the same level as Susy and force them to look at the action from her perspective, he said. "We hope to make the audience focus on the action without being able to see it," Gilmartin said. "Hopefully, the audience will finally be able to experience the world in which Susy lives." But Gilmartin promised that even without seeing it, the ending will be "intense, dramatic, and frightening." College freshman Andrea Kemp, who plays Susy, said that it was a tremendous challenge for her to learn to play a blind woman and to "see" things from a blind person's perspective. "It really makes you appreciate your ability to see," Kemp said. "Until now, I think I've really taken my sight for granted." "People who can see will never understand the frustration of what it's like to drop something and not know where it is to pick it up," she added. Kemp's preparation for the role included interviews with students from the Overbrook School for the Blind and using blindfolds during rehearsals. "When I visited with people from the school, they really gave me insight into what it's like to be blind," she said. "They helped me understand what it means to feel my way, instead of seeing my way." But Gilmartin said that Susy is not the only intriguing character in the play. He said that Rote, the show's villain, is also a fascinating role to analyze and develop. Gilmartin said he felt challenged to create a character so purely and wholly despicable. "Rote isn't just evil," Gilmartin said. "He's maniacal, he's psychotic, he's demonic, he's everything evil in the world." Wait Until Dark opens tonight and continues through Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Annenberg School Theater. Tickets are available on Locust Walk.

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