The suspense of a world premiere is building in East Bremerton at the Changing Scene Theatre Northwest.

The black box theater situated in a business park off of Highway 303 is well-known for its work with original productions, but something about “A Trick of the Light” — a two-act supernatural thriller by award-winning Colorado playwright Scott Gibson, which will debut at 8 p.m. June 1 — has director Pavlina Morris in an excited frenzy.

Out of the mounds of manuscript she and the Changing Scene board plowed through in search of a main stage production, this was the one which none could put down.

“It’s the first play in a long time that I had to finish it (then and there), it’s so suspenseful that you can’t not finish it,” Morris said. “I really want audiences to come and see it because it’s the world premiere and this play is going somewhere … mark my words.”

Though the full thrill of the play will be difficult to relay in this article (giving away many, if any, plot developments will undoubtedly spoil the ah-ha for play-goers) it’s all based on a writer rooted in the occult.

The setting is an all but abandoned Brownstone building that has been divvied into apartments — Carolyn, the writer played by Judy Nichols, and her housekeeper/best friend Emma Jean played by Zoe James are the only remaining tenants, more precisely the only remaining mortal residents.

Every night as the sun goes down they lock their doors, and no one is allowed in or out until dawn for fear of the unwanted gaining entry into the household.

However, on this evening a legitimate visitor, Tom Anderson, a legal clerk played by Darren Hembd, has arrived late in the afternoon with paperwork for Carolyn to sign. What that paperwork is, we don’t know, but Morris says “It’s inconsequential.”

What’s of more importance is that Tom winds up being stuck with the ladies for the night, everything spirals into an abyss of the supernatural and how these characters cope.

The brazen Emma Jean is a rock for the terrified Carolyn, while Tom is there more or less by the simple act of default.

“He’s fascinated with the occult but he doesn’t believe it,” Hembd said of Tom.

Carolyn, on the other hand, has been tormented by mystical maliciousness, and she’d rather not let it burden anyone other than herself. Hence the reason for her and Emma Jean staying alone, longer than any other residents at the Brownstone.

“She says nothing at all makes her special, it just happens to her,” Nichols said.

“And that’s what terrifies her,” Morris added.

With that, the stage is set for a romp of suspense and terror, revelation and discovery, leading audiences on an emotional ride of dire twists and turns in the spirit of a thriller. But this one’s utterly unique.

“There’s a lot of red herrings in it,” Morris said of the play, noting subtle similarities to shows like “Dracula” and “Arsenic and Old Lace.” “(Because of that) you are sure you’re going to know what happens, but you are wrong … dead wrong.”

“A Trick of the Light” will premiere at 8 p.m. June 1 at the Changing Scene Theatre Northwest — 5889 State Highway #303 NE, north of the Outback Steak House. It will run through June at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and at 6 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 adults/$10 seniors, students, military with ID, reservations recommended — (360) 792-8601. Info: www.changingscenenorthwest.org