RABBIT HOLE With Duff, Harris, Johnson Continues At Whidbey Through 4/25

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, under the leadership of Executive Director Stacie Burgua, presents Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire. The production, directed by Chris Fisher, features Max Cole-Takanikos, Patricia Duff, Tom Harris, Jill Johnson, and Melissa McAlerney. Performances continue at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 565 Camano Avenue, through Saturday, April 25.

Tickets range in price from $12 to $16, with discounts available for students and groups, and are available from www.WICAonline.com or 360.221.8268 - 800/638.7631.
Becca (Patricia Duff) and Howie Corbett (Tom Harris) have everything a family could want, until a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. With equal parts humor and candor, Rabbit Hole takes a refreshingly honest look at domestic tragedy and the healing power of family, laughter, and love.

The origin of this play is as ordinary and remarkable as the play itself. David Lindsay-Abaire had become known as the author of a series of successful absurdist comedies. Yet, he wanted to depart from that comfortable style and challenge himself to write a naturalistic play. Searching for a subject, he remembered what his playwriting teacher, Marsha Norman, had told him once, "if you want to write a good play, write about the thing that frightens you most in the world." It took years, and becoming a dad, for him to understand her advice. "When my son, Nicholas, was three years old, we heard a really sad story about friends of friends whose child had died very suddenly," he said. "Hearing that story, I put myself in the shoes of the parents. I thought, ‘This is what Marsha Norman is talking about.'"

This beautiful play takes us on a journey of a family who is struggling to connect with each other, but it is written with such artistry, humor and insight that we emerge more whole. The Greeks believed that theatre is a seeing place, a healing place. They felt that coming together in the theatre to see stories that portray our worst fears gives us solace, enlivens us, connects us. David Lindsay-Abaire's surprisingly unsentimental play seeks to do just that by balancing tragedy and laughter in a searing portrait of people like us who deal with the unthinkable and survive.