Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Jeffrey Cole ©2025  Nick Leshi (Howie) and Keri Seymour (Becca) in Act 1, Scene 2

The unexpected death of a young person is almost impossible to bear. In Greek mythology, Orpheus, grief-stricken by the loss of his bride, pursues her into the underworld to wrest her from the depths of Hades. Even he – a divine being – is unable to return her to life. In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identified five stages of grief in her book On Death and Dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Like Orpheus, those suffering from the death of a loved one must journey through those stages in order to heal.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole, David Lindsay-Abaire explores gut-wrenching grief. Suburbanites Becca and Howie Corbett struggle to come to terms with the accidental death of their four-year-old son, Danny. While Becca seethes with the unfairness of their fate and the destruction of her identity as a mother, her husband buries his pain behind a mask of composure. When the suffering teenager who was driving the car which killed Danny attempts to make contact with them, the Corbetts are forced to come to terms with their loss and begin to rebuild their lives.

Jeffrey Cole ©2025  Maggie Alexander (Izzy) and Keri Seymour (Becca) in Act 1, Scene 1

Director Johnny T. Liszewski makes a credible debut with Rabbit Hole, which looks good and features appealing performances from his cast. Unfortunately, he has failed to understand a basic rule of theatre: it is far more interesting to watch an actor controlling his emotions than it is to see those emotions openly expressed. In a play as full of disillusionment and anger as Rabbit Hole, there is a risk of playing the same note over and over. Liszewski allows the very capable Keri Seymour (Becca) to fall into that trap. Her open rage undermines the revelation that her seemingly calm husband is struggling as much or more than she is.

Nevertheless, Seymour is well worth watching and her quieter moments are deeply affecting: the way that she clutches her wine glass as she processes her irresponsible younger sister's pregnancy, for example, is simple yet heart-wrenching. Likewise, Joe Fanelli as Jason, the teenager who struck Danny, gives a moving performance. His first-act monologue is heartfelt, understated, and well-timed. Ida Longarino (Nat) as Becca's mother warms up the audience by finding the humor in the text.

Jeffrey Cole ©2025  Ida Longarino (Nat), Maggie Alexander (Izzy), Joe Farelli (Jason), Nick Leshi (Howie), and Keri Seymour (Becca) in Act 2, Scene 1

Jason Bolen (set and lighting design) deserves a nod for his meticulous design. The moss-and-gray unit set captures the slightly sterile feel of middle-class suburbia, while the bare rafters which rise into the flies hint at the incompleteness of the family living within. Bolen has chosen the photographs mounted on the walls carefully, picking images of a ticking clock, a fallen leaf, a barren tree, the New York skyline with the twin towers, and a tree-lined path leading off into the distance, all of them symbols of loss. With so much thought going into the decor, it's odd that Bolen and Liszewski banished all evidence of Danny's life from the stage, despite the fact that Becca claims to see reminders of her son everywhere she looks; not a photograph, nor a stray toy, nor a smudge on the wall testify to a child ever having lived there. How much more poignant it would have been if we could have seen the evidence of Danny's life slowly disappear from the space over the course of the play!

In spite of its flaws, Center Stage Community Playhouse has produced a touching production of Lindsay-Abaire's play. Rabbit Hole will strike a chord with anyone who has had to come to terms with loss. When Becca and Howie finally begin to pass from anger to acceptance, one feels the possibility of a new future – even if that future is approached one painful step at a time.