Review of ‘Rabbit Hole’ at Clear Space Theatre

David Lindsay-Abaire’s play “Rabbit Hole” reveals the complex and myriad ways that members of a family individually and collectively deal with the death of their only child, a 4-year old boy. The play had a short run on Broadway in 2006 and was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Actress and now politician Cynthia Nixon was in the original cast playing the role of Becca, the mother. She received the 2006 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

By successfully tackling plays such as last season’s “Wit” and now “Rabbit Hole,” Clear Space Theatre Co. proves its motto regarding artistic endeavors of integrity and risk. Clear Space is best known for its entertaining Broadway musicals, and in recent years has created an amazing repertory company by hiring college-age actors from competitive auditions in New York. However, Clear Space can be equally successful with intellectually oriented plays exploring difficult topics.

Shannon Parks is the perfect director for “Rabbit Hole.” Parks is an MFA graduate of the well-known program at Catholic University and has worked with almost every top professional company in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. This play’s subject matter is gloomy, and there is the omnipresent risk of wallowing in oppressive tension, despair and sadness. Fortunately the production has frequent comic relief, and Park imbues “Rabbit Hole” with grace and a teeny touch of optimism. Parks and her skilled cast bring the audience to care about each of the characters and to hope their wounds can heal.

All of the five cast members are superb in their roles. The mother and central character, Becca, is played by New Yorker Mackenzie Jones, as very caring and usually sensible but sometimes driven to rashness because of her grief. Her husband Howie is played by Jacob Waldron, the superb El Gallo of Clear Space’s recent production of “The Fantasticks.” Howie accuses Becca of trying to eliminate all memories of their deceased son, and indeed the action of the play suggests this may be true: Becca wants to sell their house, get rid of Danny’s dog and pack up Danny’s artwork. Howie’s frustration with Becca comes to a terrible confrontration where he accuses her of erasing, perhaps without conscious intent, but nevertheless deleting the last home video of Danny. None of these characters is without flaws: Howie is attending group counseling meetings, perhaps having an affair with a member of that group, and blames Jason, the boy who was driving the car that killed Danny.

Alone, the traumas of Becca and Howie would be sufficient basis for the play, but there are three more important characters. Jason, played by native Texan Rodrigo M. Zarragova, is a quiet, sympathetic, introverted high school senior. Living with his single-parent mother, Jason blames himself for the accident. He attempts to meet with the family but is rebuffed, almost violently, by Howie. Rehoboth native Amy Warick, a graduate of New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, plays Nat, mother of Becca and Izzy. Nat is irrepressively opinionated, but she patiently tries to help guide the family through their grief. Nat’s son was a heroin addict who committed suicide at 30, but she has learned to move on. Sadie Andros, teacher and theater director at Cape Henlopen High School, plays Becca’s sister, Izzy. Andros has brought her formidable acting skills to Clear Space previously in the musical “Fun Home” and the play “Wit,” and here deftly inhabits this well-wishing free spirit and provides comic relief. Izzy is pregnant by her boyfriend Auggie, but this creates another layer of tension because Becca is skeptical of Izzy’s ability to raise a child.

The set design by Eddy Seger is poignant. Most of the action occurs around a dinner table in center stage, wisely positioned at a comfortable distance from the audience. The pyramidal platforms at upstage center where Danny’s bed and possessions were located almost seem like a funeral pyre never ignited. There is a scene where Jason is on the stairs at the edge of the thrust stage, hoping to meet and somehow reconcile with the family, but when Howie refuses and throws him out, it’s truly frightening.

It’s too bad that the program didn’t have a biography for John Gromada, who was credited for original sound design and music. Since the 1980s, New Yorker Gromada has stood at the pinnacle of composers for live theatre. His music for “Rabbit Hole” is perfect – never obtrusive, but carefully smoothing segues between scenes and effortlessly establishing scenario. It succeeds in providing some tranquility and hope that things can get better. Composers are regularly celebrated for their movie music, but Gromada aptly demonstrates how much an underscore also can enhance life theatre.

“Rabbit Hole” played at Clear Space Theatre, 20 Baltimore Ave., through Sunday, Oct. 7. For more information, go to www.clearspacetheatre.org.

Reviewer Michael Decker is professor emeritus from the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Towson University in Baltimore.