Have you ever sat in the dark? Really dark. You can’t see your hand if you hold it inches from your face. No movie projector. No spill from the concession stand. No cracks from the parking lot. No LED’s for the steps. No flash lights. No iPhones.

How about no exit light?

That’s illegal, isn’t it? If it isn’t, it should be. After all, you’re in a room full of people you don’t know. You’re in a rat hole theater in the West Village. You never know who or what might be crawling around in such a place. Sit in total darkness and awful thoughts come to mind; especially after having been primed by the man in the white suit.

Play Dead is a scary, adult oriented magic show written by sideshow expert Todd Robbins and fabulous magician Teller (of Penn &), who also directs. Before the lights go out, the man in the white suit (Robbins) tells true tales of mass murderers and spirit mediums.  He appears to be normal, but he does abnormal things early on and he owns disturbing artifacts and he really does seem to enjoy drawing us in with his stories and demonstrations. Robbins would never insult our intelligence by claiming that his attempts to contact the dead are genuine; nevertheless the attempts are successful and unsettling.

Based on their raucous laughter, most people in the theater seemed to be having a great time dancing with death. I had a great time too, but frankly, I was glad to get the hell out of there. Sensitive folks like me who are afraid of the dark or of confined spaces should heed the warnings in the advertising materials and on the signs in the lobby. But if you go and in the darkness a deceased spirit medium whispers obscenities into your ear or an icy hand brushes the back of your neck, well… please remember that I warned you.

Meanwhile, a couple of miles uptown in a much nicer theater, the characters in Donald Margulies’ play, Time Stands Still, dance with death albeit in a much less unnerving way. Photojournalist Sarah (Laura Linney) returns home after having been blown up by a car bomb in Iraq. She is injured and traumatized, and yet she can’t wait to recover and get back to the most dangerous and war torn parts of the world. Sarah’s man, James (Brian D’Arcy James), a journalist who was with Sarah in Iraq prior to the explosion, left early due to post-traumatic stress disorder. At the play’s start, Sarah deals with real horrors while James immerses himself in writing an essay about the catharsis and/or desensitization of people who enjoy the fake horrors in scary movies.

The supporting characters are the harried and opportunistic magazine editor Richard (Eric Bogosian) and his airheaded and very young girlfriend Mandy (Christina Ricci). While Richard would like to see Sarah do some teaching or at least take some less dangerous assignments while she recovers, Mandy can’t understand how Sarah can do her job. Mandy, who is less clueless than she seems to be at first, reasons that instead of taking pictures of horrors the ethical thing to do would be to try and alleviate the suffering. It’s an easy point to refute for the three journalism professionals, but one that turns out to be more valid than the three originally think.

Time Stands Still is a satisfying play. Charismatic actors play compelling characters, the play moves along at a good pace, the themes are serious but the tone is not oppressive, there is good humor, and the ideas are provocative. If this sort of thing appeals to you, get tickets soon. Time Stands Still is closing at the end of January after a year long run.

If you want the crap scared out of you, Play Dead is near the beginning of an open-ended run.

“Broadway Fred” appears every Wednesday.

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