By Myra Chanin . . .
I moved to Florida during the plague and, for a short while, felt like a Manhattan snob that left paradise for a cultural desert . . . until I attended my first Boca Stage production in a 70-seat, three-row elongated Federal Highway storefront. It was directed by Keith Garsson, the founder and artistic director of the company. Boca Stage presented a four-play series of comedies, thrillers, dramas and tragedies, some classic, some brand new, some overlooked. Each time I left smiling, filled with pleasure at what I’d watched on stage.
Last season the increasing number of sold-out performances and an expanding subscriber list convinced Keith Garsson to seek more spacious quarters; so, as of now, Boca Stage will be presenting Boca Stage productions in the smaller theater, called the “Cabaret Room at the Delray Beach Playhouse,” happily doubling their seating from a cramped 70 to a spacious 140. How did the Boca Stage ticket holders react to this relocation? The early arrivals looked happy to me, lounging in the handsome red and gold lobby on comfortable armchairs, sipping and nibbling away at available snacks. We also appreciated sitting at round tables for four, where refreshments can also be enjoyed. Garsson intends to take advantage of Delray Beach Playhouse’s in-house set design crew and proficient marketing and advertising teams so Boca Stage directors can concentrate on what they do best—make quality shows even better.
Boca Stage’s current season opened with Wait Until Dark, a thriller that takes place in a 1944 Greenwich Village basement, a terrifically tacky set reminiscent of the 1950-something Greenwich Village basement in which I misspent my artsy youth. This version of Wait Until Dark is a more concise, swifter version than the original play. It takes place in the home/studio of freelance photographer Sam Hendricks (Michael Coppola) and his wife Susan (Rachel Whittington) who is blind.
A lot has happened before the play begins, so relax while I relate all the non-sexual foreplay.
Sam gets a phone call for a last-minute paying photo shoot, which he naturally accepts, and not wanting to leave his wife Susan alone at home, drops her off at the movies.
A burly man enters the empty apartment. His name is Carlino (Troy J. Stanley) aka Burglar #1. He’s looking for something. He opens the freezer, where people stashed their spare cash in the 1940s, and pockets the $20 bill hidden there before gobbling a chunk of leftover meatloaf. Suddenly, hallway noises make him return everything from whence it came and, hidden behind the bedroom door, he watches as Roat (Shane Tanner) aka Burglar #2, a tall, well-dressed, but menacing man, puts a butcher knife on the secondhand kitchen table before taking the hallway light bulb, previously removed by Carlino, and screwing it back into its hallway socket, letting light into the room.
Carlino approaches Roat, flashes his police badge and asks Roat what he’s doing on these premises. Roat knows the badge is fake. He also knows why Carlino is there. A woman offered him $200 to meet her there. The woman’s name was Lisa and she had been Carlino’s 50-50 partner on a previous heist but scooted off with the entirety of their dough before ratting him out to the cops.
Roat forced Lisa to get Carlino to come to this Greenwich Village basement and to call nice somebody Sam to get him to leave the same premises. Where is Lisa now? Locked In the closet with barely enough oxygen to keep a person alive. Fortunately, breathing is no longer her problem. Roat killed her when she couldn’t find the doll with very valuable innards that were supposed to be picked up by her at this address.
Roat offers to pay Carlino the $200 Lisa said she’d pay him for showing up tonight, plus the 50% she owes him from their previous heist, plus $500 when they find the doll, which Lisa picked up that morning in Philadelphia and brought with her to New York on the train. But as the train pulled into Penn Station, Lisa saw cops on the platform and wisely stuck the doll into a satchel that belonged to the very nice somebody who shared her seat. She memorized the nice somebody’s name and address. It was the nice somebody Sam Hendricks, who unwittingly took the doll home with him. When Lisa stopped by later in the day to reclaim the doll, Sam was ready to return it, but Ay, Caramba! the doll was no longer there.
Roat and Carlino search for the doll to no avail but believe the doll is in the apartment, probably in the locked safe near the window. But who knows the combination to the safe? Ay, Caramba! Sam, the tenant who pays the rent should know it. Roat calls Sam, who is still waiting for the woman he arranged to meet, and tells him the photo shoot is off; so Sam heads home.
Susan returns to find she has two unexpected guests, who leave, but soon an unexpected gentleman caller appears—Mike (Rio Chavarro) Sam’s fellow Marine. Susan has never met him. He’s well-spoken, upper class and his uniform is covered with medals. He has come to thank Sam for saving him from being decapitated during WWII.
But Susan is uneasy, suspicious. She’s blind but not insensitive or dumb. She manages to parry Roat and Carlino’s hostility until the middle of Act Two when she shuts off all the lights in the apartment so she and her enemies are equally in the dark and they are as sightless as she.
The second act is filled with thrilling action . . . the doll is given to Roat—at least for a while—until goodness triumphs.
The cast is very convincing. Rachel Whittington is a singer—a Victory Girl—as well as an actor. She convinced me she was blind. Shane Tanner is a South Florida native, a two-time Carbonell Award Winner, who has been performing throughout the region for thirty years and was mean enough to scare the bejesus out of me. I remember Troy J. Stanley starring at Boca Stage as General Ben Butler and playing a minor role, Uncle Jocko, in The Wick’s Gypsy because he gave the small role the same focused attention he gave to his leading role. Rio Chavarro is one of my favorite actors. He had me rolling with laughter as a South American suitor in the Boca Stage female version of the Odd Couple. Michael Coppola is understated and an extremely busy, professional, full-time actor who keeps busy with commercials and industrial work.
And then there’s little Ellie Rose who plays Gloria, Susan’s teenage aid in the . . . whatever. I didn’t mention her before, because there’s a limit to how much of my blather theaterpizzaz.com will print. But she’s a comer, has played Annie on a recent national tour and is a national Anthem performer for the NFL and NHL. And she may be the doll that has a hand in what happened to the doll.
And once again, Keith Garsson brought another play to thrilling life. I think the Delray Beach Playhouse and he may be a match made in heaven.
Wait Until Dark. Through November 5 the Delray Beach Playhouse (950 NW 9th Street, Delray Beach, Florida). Delray Beach Playhouse Box Office 561-272-1281.
Photos: Amy Pasquantonio
Cover Photo: Troy Stanley, Rio Chavarro, Michael Coppola
