Rabbit Hole
By A. Sic
Continuing its 2006/2007 season with Rabbit Hole, the Tony Award-nominated play by the brilliant David Lindsay-Abaire, Goodman Theatre has proved first in command of the Chicago stage again and again.
Goodman Associate Producer and Director Steve Scott has assembled an all-Chicago cast for the Midwest premiere of Abaire’s compassionate, heartfelt and remarkably honest play. Artistic Director Robert Falls has stated that the unofficial theme of this Goodman season is “The institution of family in varying shapes and guises.” Rabbit Hole fits perfectly in this category of domestic ambiguity.
The story revolves around a couple that has recently lost their 4-year-old child in a terrible accident. It is a tender play that deals with the coping of such a tragedy, the couple’s partnership, their grieving process, and how their closest relatives play into the healing process – or hinder it.
There is something intriguing about watching people cope with horrible and unfortunate situations in life because the material is so real to us. In Rabbit Hole the characters are so extremely well-rounded that you swear you know them. And because they are true to life, you empathize with them. The complexity of how one deals with this unthinkable situation is beyond comprehension. “Everyone has suffered a grieving process and everyone knows how mysterious that process is and how unpredictable it is. That’s what this play really examines,” says Scott. Everyone can relate to it because everyone has suffered loss.
David Lindsay-Abaire also understands the importance of humor. In Rabbit Hole it is a means for the family to cope with the trauma. Walking a fine line between earnest reality and blissful lunacy, the world of his plays is often dark-humored, witty, fast-paced, carefree, ironic, biting, and strange. "My plays tend to be peopled with outsiders in search of clarity," he says. This stands true in Rabbit Hole but the world he has created here is vastly different from his previous six plays. This world is the one we know. It is more dramatic and less farcical than his other works.
The simple fact that Abaire can create tremendously opposite worlds speaks to his undeniable understanding of human psyche, staying power, and downright talent.
In the play, rabbit holes pertain to a science fiction theory in which one travels through a warp hole into another existence that parallels your own, except the circumstances are different. That is to say, if you are miserable in this existence, you go through a rabbit hole and find that in a parallel existence, you’re happy.
The reference to Alice in Wonderland is also undeniable. Alice, a child, goes down the rabbit hole thus beginning the adventure. Everything is ‘topsy turvy’ and nothing is the way it seems. Scott is sure that is exactly what the characters in the play are experiencing.
Lia Mortensen plays Becca, the mother who lost her child, Danny. “As an actor, in order to do the job properly, you have to go to that place and fortunately or unfortunately, I am a mother of two… one who is five, about the same age [as Danny]. It’s a hard place to go, to really imagine what it must be like to loose your child and really go there so it’s believable for the audience.”
Mortensen describes the rut of the family’s grief in wonderful metaphor. “There’s nothing worse than being stuck in this limbo and not moving forward. If the play is a river stuck behind a rock what they [the family] really need to do is get around the rock and get back into the current again. As long as you’re moving, this too shall pass.”
Theatre on the Hill’s Escanaba In Da Moonlight Filled With Laughs
By Kimberly Katz
Lights...curtain...get ready to laugh! What’s better than a family on a hunting trip in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan? The Soady family on a hunting trip in Northern Michigan...well maybe not better, but definitely funnier. In Theatre on the Hill’s latest production “Escanaba In Da Moonlight”, directed by Craig J. Engel, the Soady family, dad Albert and sons Rueben and Remnar are brilliantly brought to life as they find themselves on their annual hunting trip while together bunking in a cabin much with a sorority house feel. Apparently, superstition and rituals are the name of the game when it comes to landing a respectable buck, which Albert Soady (played by Thom Sudol) repeatedly explains to the audience. But it may take more than sacred habits for Rueben (Patrick Green) to chalk up his first buck. Reuben, at 35 years of age, is challenged with the fact that he may become the oldest Soady to never bag a buck, which would be quite shameful in his family’s eyes – perhaps cursed.
But one ridiculous ritual is broken after another and Rueben’s chances are seemingly diminished as the story goes on, although he confesses that obviously hunting superstitions have never helped him before. Ken Schaefer is fantastically funny as younger brother Remnar who tries to buck up (no pun intended) Reuben while at the same time freaking out about things that have gone awry like the time 2’s and 3’s were found in the Euker deck – a taboo occurrence in hunting camp! Of course it doesn’t help matters any when Reuben takes it upon himself, at his wife Wolf Moon Dance’s advice (played by the beautiful Lorrisa Julianus), to substitute the staple hunting dish of delicious meat pasties with a liquid concoction that includes crushed flies and sliced earthworms. Oh, and let’s not forget the side of porcupine piss!
As the story progresses it only gets weirder and weirder when excitable hunting buddy, Da Jimmer (Jack Dudek) joins the party after his Chevy Impala “Shurst into shames”, translated in English as “Burst into Flames”. If that doesn’t make for an even funnier group, it really gets crazy when the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) drops by in the form of quirky Ranger Tom (Kevin Fenner) only to make a chaotic environment...well, more chaotic. Without giving too much away I’ll just say God, aliens, Bear-woks, bad gas, cheap beer and sappy whiskey...
The cast had terrific chemistry and every member was cleverly funny in their own right. Sudol, Green and Schaefer really nailed their character’s accents (much like we heard in Fargo) and really showed a comfort zone with each other, making the play an absolute joy to watch. Kudos to director Craig J. Engel for choosing to go forward on the “Escanaba” script and for the tremendous job he did with the actors and the arrangement of the set. And, just to get the (standing room only) audience more in touch with the story, complimentary cans of beer were handed out so everyone would be able to drink with the Soady’s. “Escanaba” was the perfect way to spend a Saturday night.
On a side note, Theatre on the Hill (TOTH) will be auditioning for cast members April 19th and 20th for their next production “We Will Rock You”, a musical set to the music of Queen that will begin in July. Unlike “Escanaba In Da Moonlight” that was held in TOTH’s inside theatre, “We Will Rock You” will be performed outdoors on their giant stage facing a hill. Last year TOTH found great success with their outdoor theatre with their post-apocalyptic production of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. Actors, be sure to audition in what will be the outdoor event of the year and, theatre lovers, get your blankets ready!
Don’t Bogart That Ticket!
By Kimberly Katz
The Marijuana-logues
Lakeshore Theatre
Purple Haze, Sticky-Icky-icky, Santa Maria, Sweet Malaysian Skunk Weed,
Maui Waui, Muffman Delight, 7 Seconds, Purple Power, no matter what you call it this show makes marvelous sense out of the wonderful and wacky world of pot smoking.
If you were unsure if an entire show about pot smoking could be funny, think no more because the Marijuana- Logues is hysterically funny from beginning to end.
The show also dispels many hurtful myths about port smoking as well, such as the idea that pot smoking makes you not want to do anything, as Arj Barker said, “As soon as I finish smoking I immediately have a few solid hours of worrying needlessly and then I want to take a nap!”
Cast members Arj Barker, Doug Benson and Tony Camin have done a marvelous job of writing and crafting an hour and a half of some of the wittiest and most light hearted observations on this often taboo subject.
This show originally ran off broadway for over a year with wonderful reviews and I can see why. Marijuana –logues has both the crafted feel of a well written play and the loose improvisational feel of stand up comedy. Lakeshore theatre’s Artistic Director, Chris Ritter, told me that he will be concentrating on short runs like this, so if you missed Marijuana-logues this time around you can catch it again in about six months.
You can get more information about the cast and the show, and purchase the book or CD at www.potshow.com. Doug Benson told me after the show that they had a website called The Marijuana-logues.com but that most pot smokers could not remember how to spell it!
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