Students performed Wait Until Dark for the school’s very first fall play ever.

The play follows a blind girl whose husband accidentally brings home a mysterious doll, which con artists are trying to take from her.

“I think middle school kids get used to doing a lot of comedies, and I wanted to do something different,” director Neal Gage said. “I wanted them to have that experience of doing something completely different than what they’re used to.”

Gage saw Wait Until Dark a as a child with his mother who played the lead. She was also an actress and a theatre teacher.

“It’s kind of me respecting that history, and if my parents come to see it then my mom gets to see the show that she was in all those years ago,” Gage said.

Prior to the actual production taking the stage, a cast member left the show at the last minute. Despite this, the cast says that they were prepared for their first show.

“I feel like everybody has certainly put in good work,” Josh Buie, who plays Roat, the main antagonist, said. “Mr. Gaige personally asked me to play my role and I accepted. Roat is a large and intimidating character, and I think that Mr. Gage chose me for my physical stance and capabilities to play a scary role.”

Though actors are an essential to any play production, a strong crew is important. The crew in Wait Until Dark worked hard helping out behind the scenes.

“I’ve had experience with stage (management), and I like being behind the scenes and helping the actors get their work done,” stage manager Kaylee Todd said. “I also like telling people what to do.”

Wait Until Dark had a total of five showings Wednesday through Saturday at 7:00 pm, and a special afternoon show on Saturday at 2:00 pm, all ending with a terrifying final scene.

“On a few of the shows, some of the actors skipped a bunch of important lines that kind of revealed the storyline of the show,” Susie’s actress, Grace Simmons, said. “It was a little bit nerve-wracking because we still had to go on and do the other lines anyways and the audience was probably like, ‘what are they talking about?’ but we still had to do them just to keep the show going.”

The cast and crew worked hard for over six weeks with rehearsals almost everyday after school in preparation for this show, which received well-earned praise and an amazing turnout.

“I really liked the play,” sophomore and audience member Victoria DesParois said. “I liked how serious the actors were and how they kept character so well. The ending scene with (Mr. Roat) stood out when Susie screamed and (he) reacted so dramatically and well.”