Tag Archives: Becca Valek

Review: Spotlight Theater’s Jake’s Women

Leave a reply

So last month (January) I went to New Lenox, IL to see a friend of mine in Jake’s Women by Neil Simon as produced by Spotlight Theater. Now this was directed by first time director: Nicole Fleming. Now if you remember, a few months prior I saw Spotlight Theater’s production of The Deadly Game which I really enjoyed… this show, however, brought out a very different perspective.

Essentially Jake’s Women revolves around Jake, a writer, who is at a crossroads in his life, his second marriage is failing, he’s slowly losing his sanity, and he’s trying to hold on to the only piece of light to get through the darkness. However, the women that he talks to aren’t in his reality, they are versions of the women in his reality that have a permanent residence in his head.

Continue reading →

Review: Beverly Theatre Guild’s Wait Until Dark

Leave a reply

Disclaimer: Normally I try not to review shows that I felt was below average (in my eyes), but since someone asked I have to oblige.

Wait Until Dark is probably best known for the 1967 film adaptation of the same name, with Audrey Hepburn as the young blind woman Susy Hendrix. The script itself is a fascinating read with the characters jumping out of the page. However, between myself and several other theatre goers we agree that there has yet to be a community theatre group that effectively creates the suspense necessary for this show.

Unfortunately for the Beverly Theatre Guild, they have not broken that mold. Wait Until Dark is about a recently blind woman, Susy Hendrix, who happens to be in possession of a doll full of drugs. Her husband came in possession of those drugs through a chance encounter with a thief while on flight heading home a few weeks earlier. In the meantime, there are three con-artists who are all gunning for the doll and lure the husband away on a trip of “business” so they could corner the blind woman and steal the doll. With the help of a young neighbor, Susy attempts to even the odds by turning off all the lights in the home… however she neglects one: the refrigerator.

This has all the ingredients for a splendid thriller, so where did it all go wrong?

Continue reading →