Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott (1992-93 Fall)
September 12^th, 2003


I had the lead in this play. In case anyone has never seen it, or the movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Richard Crenna (who played the same role I did), then do not read on…SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!
This is why I put the red asterisk where I did. In this play, my character (Mike Talman, a small time ex-convict) gets blackmailed into a heroin smuggling scam. Mr. Talman, from what I recall, was not a drug runner…probably just a petty thief…I seem to remember him (me?) mentioning breaking into people’s houses for a ‘living’. Drug running then is not in his blood. He doesn’t like it, or the people who do it…they’re simply too dangerous. Dangerous so that … I had a death scene near the end of the play!!!! Yippee!!! My first death scene!
But first, I must tell you that we did all of our own set construction. The director bought the supplies…and we started from scratch. Stretching the canvas, painting, nailing, and, yes, even cutting of the lumber took place on the stage we were to perform this thing.
Now…knowing I had a death scene, I made damn well sure the shopvac we had was run at the end of or foray into the realm of set design/construction. I had to wind up on the floor, face down for jeebus’s sake!
But, I apparently didn’t do a good enough job because, on the closing night, I managed to find the only pile of sawdust left on the stage…It wasn’t even that big of a pile. It was imperceptible to the unaided eye, in fact!
My character was stabbed in the back, and I fell down the stairs gasping and reaching out to the poor blind lady, to collapse at the bottom. Like I said, on closing night I found that little bit of sawdust. With what was supposed to be my last breath (I actually held my breath as I was dragged off stage in the other showings), I blew every last grain of that damned dust right into my eyes…ouch.

A few days after the play started, I was changing shirts one day, and noticed a series of blue lines running down the right side of my trunk. I wondered, “What the hell is this all about?” Then I realized…It was the pattern that remained after falling down those steps three or four times for rehearsal, and 3 more times for the actual shows.
Bruises and sawdust in the eyes…I wouldn’t trade it for all the world! And…I would do it all again.

But, jumping back to mid story a bit here, I actually dedicated my performance to someone. I had invited her to the closing show…I thought that would be easier for her to make, since she went to college in a neighboring town. I had even offered to buy her ticket for her, and give it to her personally when she got to the show. It turned out, though, that April 8^th was the Thursday before finals started (they would have started for her on Monday, and she would need to be studying as the play was going on…and the travel time would have cut into her study time, too.
She told me that the week before the show, so I told her that I would dedicate my performance to her because she couldn’t be there. She giggled a little, and thanked me.
That was the last time I would talk to her ever again.
She was on her way back to town for the weekend that Friday afternoon, in the rain, when she hydroplaned and hit a tree. By all accounts, she died instantly. I have since heard that it may have been the airbag that broke her neck.

Amy…I know you can’t read this now…but I miss you, and I wonder every day what you would be doing now if you were still here with us. I have vowed to touch people’s lives the way you touched mine for as long as I live.

I promise.