“Excuse to gorge,” Nancy admitted. “But since we’re here, I suppose we should review where we are with each of the costumes.”

She retrieved a three-inch red binder from a tote bag by her feet. The binder had tabs separating each character and their costume requirements.

She started with the main characters, and they reviewed what needed to be done for each one, working their way through the book. There were only a few characters left when the lights went out.

The darkness was so complete that Lindsey couldn’t even see Nancy and Mary, although they were seated just a few feet away. A small emergency exit light was the only thing visible in the room, but while it illuminated the door it did nothing to cut through the gloom.

“Do you think it’s the whole building?” Mary asked.

“I don’t see any light coming from the hallway, so I think so,” Nancy said.

“I’m going to see if anyone knows what happened,” Lindsey said.

She stood up and felt for the wall. She bumped her leg into another table and stumbled, but her fingers found the concrete wall and she followed it toward the door.

She traced the outside of the door frame until she felt the doorknob. She pulled the door open and noted that the hallway was just as dark as the room behind her.

“Do you see any light?” Nancy asked from the table.

“Nothing yet,” Lindsey said. “Wait here, maybe I can rustle up a flashlight.”

She stepped out into the hallway. She could hear the excited murmur of voices coming from the stage area. She felt her way along the wall, trying to remember where the door into the auditorium was.

Her fingers closed on a door handle and she pulled it open.

She stepped into the room just as a scuffle and a shout sounded from the stage.

“Get off!” a voice that was unmistakably Robbie’s shouted. “Hey! Ah!”

There was the sound of a thud as if a body had just collapsed against the stage.

“Robbie? Was that you?”

“Who’s there?”

“Ouch!”

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Could somebody please hit the breaker?”

There were too many voices to pick out any one voice. Lindsey hurried forward, but it was still pitch-black and she slammed into a row of seats, almost knocking herself down. She began to feel her way along the seat backs, trying to get to the stage.

“Quiet!” Violet’s voice commanded. “Everyone be still. If you move in the dark, you could hurt yourself.”

The loud voices and shouts quieted to a low murmur. Lindsey took the opportunity to step into the aisle, which had small yellow floor lights that would lead her down to the stage. She was getting close when a beam of light snapped on near the stage.