Directing: Harry Kurnitz

“A SHOT IN THE DARK "

South County Players, Kingston, Rhode Island, 1985

Once my little family had left me for the west, I was free to go off to rehearsals every night, and I was pleased to be asked to direct a play for a community theatre in Kingston, Rhode Island, a forty-minute drive from my house in Westerly. My first idea was to do something like Beckett, but I was happy enough to tackle the straightforward dramatic comedy they chose. I had seen “A Shot in the Dark” on Broadway, and the movie version with Peter Sellers, and I was cheered to recall that it was not initially an American commercial play but French, an adaptation of a play by Marcel Achard. I felt the loneliness of the director acutely as I drove into the dark wilds of Rhode Island to work with a group of complete strangers; they were good-natured and cooperative, the play is engaging and well-structured, and I took it as a welcome opportunity to work on my craft.