It will be a suspense filled September when Frederick Knott's chiller" Wait Until Dark" is revived at the Victoria Theatre. First performed on Broadway in 1966 and filmed with Audrey Hepburn the following year, "Wait Until Dark" serves as the freshman production of Circle of Life Theater. Lead character Suzy, who is blind, will be portrayed by two visually impaired actresses who will alternate in the role during the show's September 4-21 run. 

"We are a company that casts abled and disabled actors," said Circle of Life Executive Director Fritz Lambandrake. "We don't cast disability, we cast talent. We accomodate the disability, but the actor still needs to be the best for the role." 

The two actresses that will portray Suzy over the 12-performance run are Arianah Ruzovich and Megan Luis. Ruzovich lives with Stargardt's Disease, an inherited form of macular degeneration that started to appear when she was nine. Today, she still has her peripheral vision, but cannot see anything in front of her. While Luis is serverly nearsighted, and can see reasonably well with her contacts. Without them the world is a blur, leaving her legally blind. When onstage they will wear special contacts that will block the vision they still have — they will portray Suzy without sight of any kind, as Suzy is totally blind.


Lambandrake explained his decision to cast two actresses as Suzy:

"We were told by theater people that we wouldn't find any blind actors. We attended all three days of Theater Bay Area general audition, and there was indeed not one blind actress. We decided to knock on every door of every blind service organization in the Bay Area. It took three months, but we found six blind actresses. We decided that if we were going to confidently promote our show as starring a blind actress, we should cast two and make sure we had a built in understudy at all times. We also want to show that there's more than one blind actress in the Bay Area." 

Clay David, a respected veteran of Bay Area stages, co-stars as Roat, a vicious and violent con artist/drug dealer who threatens Suzy's life. 

"I am an advocate for progressive theater that celebrates cultural plurism," he told SF Weekly. "I have fully embraced theater artists with disabilities. My brother was a Special Olympics winner who helped me to understand how to effectively communicate so that all individuals 'get' the vision, whether it's a production of "The Glass Menagerie" or a choreographed Special Olympics celebration. Circle of Life Theater inspires people to re-envision disability through proffesional theater where all artists are welcomed to the table and honored."

"Wait Until Dark" concludes with a fight to the death between Suzy and Roat. The blind young woman is called upon to defend and save herself. 

"It's very important for me to have the blind actresses overcome their challenges and to courageously fight passionately and powerfully on stage," said David, who also serves as the show's combat and fight choreographer. He adds, "We methodically and safely worked out 22 aggressive and violent moments of combat where the audience would always wonder who has the upper hand. It will be an equal battle between one who is blind with a keen awareness of her stregnth and surroundings, and the other a psychopath who is jarring and disorienting her world through aggressive and vicious brutality. I want the audience to feel her passion and courage to stay alive on stage."

The curtain will rise for a special "pay what you can" preview on September 3, with regular peformances commencing the following night. Shows will run on Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.

Circle of Life also presents a weekly cabaret show, locations switch weekly between The Lookout (360016th St.) and Martuni's (4 Valencia) every Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. These cocktail hour performances have no cover charge and will feature a wide variety of singer/songwriters, beatboxers, and dancers, some disabled, some not.