For Immediate Release:
Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director
Cotuit Center for the Arts
Phone: (508) 428-0669
Email: [email protected]
Website: ArtsOnTheCape.org
“Rabbit Hole” at Cotuit Center for the Arts
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents “Rabbit Hole,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by David LindsayAbaire, in the Black Box Theater February 9-26. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30
PM, and Sunday at 2 PM. Steve Ross is directing.
“’Rabbit Hole’ is an intense play about a family’s efforts to overcome their grief after the loss of their
four-year-old son,” said Ross. “It is not a sad play. It certainly has it emotional moments, but there is
also some very well-timed humor in it. What draws me to the play is how well-written it is; how real
the conversations are, how truthful the situations and the relationships are.”
The play opens eight months after Howie and Becca’s son Danny is killed by a teenage driver after
chasing the family dog out into the street. Becca’s mother Nat and her sister Izzy try to offer support.
Even Jason, the teenage driver, plays a role.
“Everyone grieves differently. Becca wants to get rid of painful reminders, while Howie wants to
preserve them, soothing himself by watching home videos of Danny. Becca wants to talk; Howie, like
most husbands, just wants to fix the problem,” said Ross.
“The characters are entrenched in their own ways of coping and have difficulty understanding how
other members of the family deal with loss. In their own ways, they are stunting their own abilities to
move forward,” he said.
The characters blame themselves for what happened, struggling with thoughts of “if only” they or
someone else had done something differently on that day, Danny would still be alive. All these
feeling of self-blame create significant strain on relationships, and family members, despite their
mutual love, seem unable to help each other.
Becca is played by Jade Schyuler. “She is a powerful presence, very intense on stage,” said Ross.
“She’s multifaceted. She has to portray Becca as likeable, because Becca is likeable, but she becomes
very withdrawn; she can’t deal with the fact that life is going on around her without her son. She
wants to move on, but doesn’t know how.”
Rick Martin plays Howie. “Rick plays a supportive husband to Becca, and yet, at the same time, he
has a foreboding edginess that really works in certain scenes,” said Ross.
Izzy, Becca’s good-hearted sister, is played by Anna McEntee. “Izzy is a party girl who never grew up,”
said Ross. “Anna plays her in a really animated way, almost bigger than life. She creates a great
contrast to the way Jade is playing Becca, and I think that contrast will be very effective.”
Diane Quaid is Nat, Becca’s mother. “She’s the mediator,” said Ross. “She is trying her dead-level
best to be a support to both her daughters. She is also very humorous, going on a fantastic diatribe
about the Kennedys.”
Jason is played by Ian Burgess. “Ian has a nervous, youthful energy about him that makes him perfect
as Jason, someone who absolutely needs to be absolved,” said Ross. “There is nothing he can ever do
to bring Danny back, but he tries just the same.”
Ross directed “Driving Miss Daisy” and “God of Carnage” for Cotuit Center for the Arts and will be
directing “Educating Rita” in May for Eventide Arts. He recently appeared in CCftA’s productions of
“Twelve Angry Men,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and “Gypsy” and “Three-Penny Opera” at
Eventide.
“Rabbit Hole” premiered on Broadway in 2006, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, and was made into a
movie in 2010.
Tickets are $18, $15 for members. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit. For more
information, visit artsonthecape.org or call 508-428-0669.
# # #
What:
“Rabbit Hole,” by David Lindsay-Abaire
Where:
Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit
When:
February 9-26. Thursday through Saturday, 7:30 PM, Sunday, 2 PM
Admission:
$18, $15 for members
END