Courtesy Photo by Bronwyn Woolman The cast of Alpena Civic Theatre’s “Wait Until Dark” poses at a recent rehearsal.

ALPENA — If you hear blood-curdling screams coming from near the river on a dark winter’s night, don’t fret. It’s just a blind woman being terrorized by a sinister con man who has been murdering his way through the neighborhood.

For what, you ask? To locate the toy doll smuggled in from Canada unwittingly by an innocent man. Because the doll has drugs in it that the con man and his cronies need to sell to make back the money they owe other bad men.

What does any of this have to do with a blind woman? Come find out tonight at Alpena Civic Theatre for the opening of “Wait Until Dark.” The suspense thriller starts at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, and again next weekend, Jan. 23 to 26.

Tracie Papin stars as Susy Hendrix, the blind housewife who is left home alone.

“Her husband Sam (Jeremy Karpen) has brought back a doll,” which he did not know contained heroin, Lozen explained. “So he brings this doll back thinking he’s going to help this lady deliver this doll to a sick child. So really the lady just got him to transport it from Canada back to New York for her. She’s a con woman herself.”

Three con men — Mike (Matt Southwell), Sgt. Carlino (Nick Hartman), and Roat (Morgan Suszek) break into the Hendrix home while they are away and devise a scheme to find the doll. It involves tricking the innocent blind woman into giving the doll to them.

“There’s been a murder, and they make her believe that her husband is going to be blamed for this murder if they don’t find this doll and get it out of the house,” Lozen said.

Susy is none the wiser the first half of the show, but starts to catch on as the con men continue in their mercenary schemes.

“Little things they do make her suspicious,” Lozen said. “So she gets the girl upstairs, the young girl who lives in the apartment above her, and helps her time to time, those two have a little scheme then to figure out just what’s going on.”

The snotty brat Gloria, played convincingly by Laura Poli, shows her temper early on but ends up being a valuable asset to Susy’s plan to get back at the con men for their attempts to dupe her.

As Mike, Southwell plays the “good guy” of the bad guys, getting Susy to trust him as one of her husband’s old military friends. Southwell’s genuine ability to become his characters makes it easy to both love and hate Mike at the same time.

The dunce of the hustlers is Sgt. Carlino, played in the always-entertaining style of Nick Hartman, who even throws in a New York accent. These guys resemble the dufus bandits that chased Macaulay Culkin around in “Home Alone.”

The most terrifying con man is mastermind Roat, who even scares his fellow crooks. After all, he did murder a woman without a second thought. Why wouldn’t he murder them, too? Morgan Suszek brings a malevolent fire to this production as Roat, with jump-worthy moments that rival a horror film.

Coupled with Tracie Papin’s ear-piercing screams, the darkness comes alive before the end of a very rough night. As Susy, Papin skillfully represents a blind woman as she shuffles around stage, but she has the upper hand once the lights go out.

“She makes it an even playing field,” Lozen said.

The policemen who enter the scene round out the cast, played by Jeff Papin and Cary Keller.

In her debut as director, Diane Lozen selected this suspense thriller, which she is excited to present to the public.

“They’re all excellent. I love this cast,” she said. “They’re all just perfectly suited for their characters … They made my job easy.”

Lozen has been assistant director on many shows. Her assistant director is Judy Beyer. Duane Beyer built the set, which transports the audience back into the 1960s with velour furniture, knick knacks aplenty and wallpaper the color of pea soup. Mary Ann Crawford designed the costumes, Jay Kettler and Scott Edgar do the lighting, and Taylor Ayotte painted the outside sign. Lozen’s daughter Emily Lozen helped paint the safe and her granddaughter Alexis Ferguson’s photographs are part of the set.

Because of violent themes, this play is recommended for ages 13 and older. Tickets are $15 per adult or $8 per student. For ticket reservations, call the box office at 989-354-3624.

This 1966 play is by Frederick Knott. The 1967 film starred Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin, directed by Terence Young.