Pre-teen gets role in ‘grown-up’ production, ‘Wait Until Dark’
A new version of the classic thriller “Wait Until Dark” handed Memorial resident Anna Marie Tobin her first role in a play for grown-ups.
“I’ve done kid shows, but never something real like this,” said Tobin, who will turn 13 at the conclusion of the Oct. 29-Nov. 22 run of the play at Queensbury Theatre, 12777 Queensbury Lane
The daughter of John and Cynthia Tobin is a seventh-grader in the Vanguard program at T.H. Rogers School.
Director Rich Mills cast Tobin as Gloria, the feisty pre-teen who lives upstairs from Susy Hendrix, a blind housewife.
When Gloria spots a doll downstairs, she thinks it’s a gift for her; when she finds out that it’s not, she steals the doll.
“She is a real jerk,” says Tobin.
“My favorite scene is when I get angry and I get to throw a lot of stuff all over the floor, because that is something I would never do in real life.”
Queensbury’s production of “Wait Until Dark” is the Houston premiere of a revised version of Frederick Knott’s 1966 thriller with Lee Remick and its 1967 film version starring Audrey Hepburn.
Both the play and the movie chilled audiences with the concept of a blind woman being manipulated by violent men who want the doll because of it contains heroin that’s been being smuggled.
Both versions also boasted a climactic scene designed to scare fans out of their seats.
Jeffrey Hatcher’s 2013 adaptation of the play has moved its setting from “the present” to 1944, giving it a haunting “film noir” feel, said Queensbury’s executive director Randal K. West.
The World War II setting also has Mike introducing himself as a Marine buddy of the husband of the blind woman, who is at the mercy of Mike and Gloria to help her outsmart the crooks.
Also, a blind person 70 years ago seems more vulnerable than one who has today’s accommodations and training.
Tobin has been training about three years with Music Box Theater cast member Kristina Sullivan, who is now director of education at Queensbury’s
Tribble School for the Performing Arts.
In showcases with other Sullivan students, Tobin has portrayed the Baker’s Wife in “Into The Woods JR.” and sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Misérables.”
At Rogers, she started playing cello last year and has already advanced to the chamber orchestra.
“I don’t know how I got there,” she said.
Next, she will portray Mary Warren in an abridged version of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” in Rogers’ entry in University Interscholastic League junior high one-act play competition.
Mary Warren is accused of bewitching the group of girls who go dancing in the forest in the parable based on the Salem witch trials in Puritan New England.
“She is really nervous all the time,” said Tobin.
“In the first half, she thinks about her actions.
“But in the second part, she does what it takes to save her own life.”
The junior high contest follows the rules of the statewide UIL one-act play competition for high school thespians, but junior high students don’t advance beyond district contests, said Tobin.