A burglar breaks into a house in the middle of the night and gets more than they bargained for when they get wrapped up in a married couple’s feud. Throughout the night, the burglar unravels the couple’s secret lives and inadvertently puts their relationship to the test.
What Happens In The Dark is a farcical comedy that uses a lighting convention where the lights are opposite. So when the lights are ON, they’re actually OFF. And when they’re OFF, they’re actually ON. Therefore the audience can only see the characters onstage when they are stumbling around in complete darkness. This convention opens the door to mistaken identity, physical comedy, and side-splitting chaos.
Fundamentally, this is a story about identity and self discovery, and throughout the night, Alan and Sharon must face whether or not they can continue to be together when new information comes to light about their sexualities, careers, and identities.
The idea for What Happens in the Dark came from playwright Kristofer Buxton-Dean's realization that our most vulnerable moments happen in complete darkness. However, it's difficult to capture darkness onstage, therefore Kris wanted to explore writing a play where the lights were opposite.
The very first iteration of the play was only ten minutes and was part of the University of Colorado Boulder's Fringe Festival in Spring 2017. Later that year, Kris expanded the short into a full two act play, which he self produced along with Casey Buxton-Dean in Boulder, Colorado. The first production led to major rewrites, which Kris completed in time for What Happens in the Dark to appear as a part of the Dairy Arts Center Fringe Festival in 2017.
The show took a 7 year hiatus until Kristofer revisited the concept through the lens of his own bisexuality. This new version of What Happens in the Dark debuted as a part of the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival where it earned a nomination for Best Comedic Theatre and won the StageCrafts Free Circuit Award. Kristofer and Casey also used the production to raise $500 for the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
The most recent performance of What Happens in the Dark was in July of 2025 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, CA as part of the StageCrafts Free Circuit. Our company is always rewriting and workshopping this show and we are excited to debut the latest iteration in Edinburgh in August, 2026.
