KISS MY BUCKET LIST

I have a long list of books to read, movies to watch, places to go. Things to do. Some are pretty easy to do, some will take a little more time. And yet, despite how simple or hard this things are, they all stay on that list, that Netflix queue of life. I have to read the third book in the Dark Materials series. I need to catch up on The Walking Dead. I must go to Macchu Picchu.

The longer I live, the longer the list gets. Sometimes this worries me. According to most, we humans are mortal and as such have to die someday.

I don't plan on doing that. But if I do, there will be way too many things on my list that I haven't gotten to, and that bugs me.

I can hear the many speakers at my funeral now. "He was a good man. Sadly, he never got through the first season of House of Cards. I mean, the first season! Not the third where things got a little too much, mind you, but the first! May we all learn from what could have been- what should have been but never was. Now let us pray."

The list is like Bilbo Baggins' road, going ever, ever on. Or like The Simpsons. I mean, shit! How can I even begin to assail this Neverending Story of things I must do? Was George telling the truth when he sang "the more one travels, the less one knows"? Was it George who sang that, or John? Suddenly, I'm not so sure. Point being, ignorance is bliss, and I am fairly blissless. There is no way in Hell I can read all the books I actually own, let alone all those books I was supposed to read in college and high school. Pride and Prejudice? How can I possibly read Jane Austin when I haven't even watched every single Twilight Zone or X-file? And don't even get me started about the friggin' Outer Limits. Oh, and what about the films of Kurosawa? Antonioni? All those French New Wave films?

Maybe I should become a hermit and study a blank wall for forty years or so. Find my inner zen, my humble pie that I could eat a la mode.

Or perhaps take up lycanthropy?

I have been told I was raised by wolves. Add that to the list: find my lupine parents.

Great. Just great.

WAIT UNTIL DARK, THEN GET YOURSELF TO THE FAC

The words that come to mind when I think of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center's current production of Wait Until Dark: exciting, breath-taking, scary, macabre. Also insightful, dramatic, and smart. And funny. Creepy. Fast paced. Unrelenting. Cool.

Suffice to say, I liked it quite a bit. Wait Until Dark starts out full of tension and menace- and ratchets it up from there. After a beautiful opening image of a figure silhouetted in a doorway, we are plunged headlong into a world of mystery and intrigue and terror. I don't want to give too much of the plot away, so I won't tell you what happens. What I can tell you is that in the story, over the course of less than twenty-four hours, we witness a blind woman named Susan's harrowing encounters with malice, cruelty, and deceit. As she deals with a series of bizarre encounters, she is forced to find a strength and resilience that she doesn't seem to sure exists at the start of the play. What makes the play work- and oh does it work- is not just the tightly written plot, the spectacular stage combat (more on that in a minute), or the scares- of which there are many. No, what makes this story work so well, especially as directed by the always amazing Scott Levy, are the nuanced and fully realized characters. Susan is a real, flawed, interesting woman. Her husband is a control freak with good intentions, and the bad guys are not merely mustache twirling villains or your typical hoodlums, but complex and strangely likable con men with varying degrees of psychosis. The play made me think of a Hitchcock film- full of suspense and anxiety and seemingly ordinary people thrown into intense extraordinary circumstances.

The direction of Mr. Levy is fast paced, exciting, and outright scary. He makes the creepiest use of a
closet door I have ever seen on stage. And the aforementioned stage combat, some performed in almost complete darkness, is terrifying. The fights are choreographed by Benaiah Anderson, and perfect- scary, realistic, and just the right length to scare the crap out of you while furthering the story. Not only did Mr. Levy get the best fight choreographer for this show, he also drew incredible performances out of his cast. Jessica Weaver is outstanding as Susan- at once vulnerable and strong, innocent and intelligent. As her overbearing husband Sam, Kyle Dean Steffen is perfect. At first, he comes off as a concerned, kind husband. But as we get to know him, his controlling personality comes seeping out. As the somewhat more comic of the criminals, Micah Speirs is hilarious. And Michael Lee- who played a fantastic Renfield in FAC's outstanding Dracula last season- is perfection as Roat, a role that calls for a wide range, a quick mind, and a razor sharp sense of timing- all of which Mr. Lee has in spades. Adam Laupus, as Sam's war buddy Mike, is amazing. His character goes on quite a trajectory, and Laupus handles him expertly.  Rounding out the cast is Mallory Hybl as Gloria, the annoying kid who lives upstairs. Ms. Hybl is fantastic- believable and funny.

As usual at the FAC, the technical aspects of this production are works of art. The set, by Brian Mallgrave, is gorgeous. It sets up a perfect sets up the perfect sense of a home that is a bit claustrophobic. The lights by Holly Anne Rawls perfectly accompany this beauty of set, and the costumes by Janson Fangio are just right- evoking both a time and place, but also the essence of each character.

If you are looking for something fun to do this Halloween weekend, go see this show! Wait Until Dark is a glorious night of theatre, and not to be missed.