Blind role challenges local actress

Playing a blind woman, actor Cristin Cotton says, means forgetting a lot of what she knew about acting.
“The hardest part was not moving when I was yelling at someone, and just standing there,” Cotton, who plays the lead role in Stage Crafters Community Theatre’s “Wait Until Dark” told The Log. “It took forever getting used to. One of the first things you learn in actor training is that when you’re angry, you move, throw things, stalk around.”
A blind woman, she said, won’t stride wildly across an empty space she can’t see.
Suzy, the lead character in “Wait Until Dark,” is unaware that the stuffed toy she acquired was used to smuggle heroin into the country. Now the murderous Roat and his gang are determined to take it from Suzy by any means necessary, forcing her to find a way to turn the tables despite her handicap.
“It’s a very different, intense role for me,” said John Guzalak, who plays Roat. “I’m not sure what my colleagues at Bridgeway Center will think of it ... Roat has a seriously evil heart and he’s probably a little drug-crazed.”
Cotton said she’d started off practicing for her role with “the cliché,” walking around her house blindfolded. She also had dinner with a blind friend of her father’s and watched how he moved through his life.
She said director Nancy Kruzek, who’d played the role of Suzy in a previous production, had also given her advice: Don’t make eye contact. Don’t let your eyes get too expressive.
“She told me to dial it down,” Cotton said.
“Wait Until Dark” runs 7:30 p.m. June 5, 6, 12 and 13 and 2 p.m. June 7 and 14. All performances are at the Fort Walton Beach Civic Auditorium. Tickets are available at the door or in advance from all Century 21 offices in Okaloosa County, Walton County and Navarre and at Dowd Title Group, Bayou Books, PS Gifts and Connect With Flowers.