Rabbit Hole is showing now at Vandivort
By David Norman, The Statler?s WaldorfThis is one of the first interviews I?ve had where I?ve ever been slightly intimidated by the talent. Not intimidated in the sense that I was nervous to speak to them?I really just wanted to come across as a bit more professional than I usually do?I tend to goof around quite a bit, if you guys haven?t noticed?which sometimes works in my favor. My intentions were to make a good first impression because these people are genuine pros, possessing the experience and knowledge that only comes when you know your craft inside and out.
I should also mention that I was running late for this interview. I was scheduled to meet the cast at the theatre at 6:00. It was 6:02. My reputation precedes me, unfavorably. ?
To get to The Vandivort Center Theatre you can either hoof it up the thousand steps it takes to get to the fourth floor of the Vandivort Building ? or you can take the slowest (and perhaps oldest) elevator in Springfield. Patience is a virtue (Ha! Let?s be honest, those steps are killer, man?and I?m way outta shape), so I took the elevator (?and it?s 6:05, btw). Granted, in its slowness, the elevator gave me the time to review the IMDb page I printed off on one of the actors cast in Rabbit Hole, Kurt Gerard. I see it like this, and you can disagree if you like: if a person is able to print off an IMDb page on an actor, he?s/she?s legit. It?s those moments when an actor, writer, or what-have-you realizes that they?re at least swinging from one or two of the interweb?s little digital threads.
It?s how I validate myself (yes, I Google myself. Don?t judge me), so when I was able to access the professional records of three of five cast members?I was like, ?Dude, this is the real deal.? It?s where I become less The Statler?s Waldorf and more David Norman, theatre columnist for TAG.
(6:07).
I hustle out of elevator and down the stuffy hallway cursing myself and my rather serious punctuality issues but to my surprise, there, directly in front of the Vandivort, nestled on the floor, comfortably leaning against the locked theatre doors is a man I had also printed off several pages on ? the director himself, Mr. Paul Dennhardt, looking very human, but still very much resembling the astute figure in the pics I had printed from The Illinois State University?s website. Dennhardt is a professor of acting and movement and the go-to for stage direction for several of the state?s professional theatres.
(6:09).
Luck had stood by my side again. Thank God that he loves fools and sinners. It would seem the rest of the cast had not yet arrived. Come to find out, parking was the issue. I always park illegally, so no problem for me (insert winky). He rose to greet me and it was then that I finally began to relax a little. It?s so much easier once you find out that despite an overwhelming amount of talent, these people are still overwhelmingly normal. Minutes later the rest of the cast arrives and I quickly find myself sitting on the beautifully constructed set, lounging in a ?living room? with Dennhardt, Sarah Wiggin, and Gerard of Rabbit Hole, a Resident Artist Ensemble premiere brought to you by Springfield Contemporary Theatre. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you only see one show this season, this is the one you where you should check your punctuality. This cast is amazing. (6:15 p.m.). Our conversation went like this?
The Statler?s Waldorf: How is everyone this evening?
(Everyone resounds with enthusiastic praise to the glory of this Thursday evening)
TSW: Mr. Director, sir (gesturing shrewdly to Paul Dennhardt). Please tell me about Rabbit Hole. And yes, that?s a broad question. It?s how I do.
Paul Dennhardt: It?s a beautifully written play about a family recovering from a horrific loss. David Lindsay-Abaire, the playwright of Rabbit Hole, was challenged to write about something that terrifies him, so he wrote this play around parents who lose a young child, through happenstance?through an accident. It?s a story about a family not so much lost in grief but moving on in life, yet still dealing with the emotional impact of the death of their son and how it affects their relationship.
TSW: Does it take place immediately after?
PD: It takes place about eight to ten months after the incident, and over the course of the play.
TSW: Sarah, you play the mom, Becca, can you tell me a little bit about your character?
Sarah Wiggin: (laughs) Another broad question?
TSW: (grinning) It?s how I do things.
SW: Becca is a woman who redefined herself after having a child, she waited until much later to take that step and so once Danny was born she essentially became a ?mother,? a stay-at-home mom, which was a drastic change from the career orientated and professionally driven person she was prior to her pregnancy. Her whole life was wrapped up in her child and then it was suddenly and painfully removed. This play is about how she is coming to terms with her loss, how she is managing the relationship with her husband, her mother?who also lost a child?and her sister and the young man who was partially responsible for the death of her son?
PD: The young man, an individual who just happened to be driving down the street that day when Danny just kind of ??ran out.?
TSW: It?s like a story of fates, so to speak? Unfortunate fates?
PD: Yeah, I think it is. It?s mentioned that there?s no sense why they should feel cursed?this family just has to move on. Again, they are distraught, but this is not a family simply wallowing in grief?these are highly functioning, polite, even funny people?well, they go on a scale from urbane to not so?urbane, I suppose (chuckling). But, truly, they are capable of great humor and sensibility?they?re just trying to figure out how to best deal with this rift in their lives.
TSW: Kurt, obviously these people exist as a couple but how does your character?s grief differ from Sarah?s?
Kurt Gerard: First, much of this play is about holding onto a marriage as it is learning how to grieve for a child. This is a father?s worst nightmare. Howie has lost his son, and now he?s trying to not lose his wife to her grief. He?s very into therapy and talking about things, but Becca works differently. She?s more closed?if anything, they?re trying to figure out how to survive together.
TSW: This may be a tough question. These people don?t seem to be shells of their former selves, but they are obviously missing a part of who they were and what defined them?a part of their souls. How do you reach for the kind of sadness is required for these characters? I don?t know if I could, like, relate it to real life?or tune into something so dark and so terrifying and so sad. Where do you go, as actors, to find your characters?
SW: For me, it?s trying to live honestly in the given circumstances of this person?s moment. I can?t use my own experience because I fortunately don?t have that kind of situation to draw from. To try to find something similar would be unreliable. So, for me it?s about investing in the truth of this particular story.
KG: This story, it?s deep, man. It?s about taking your emotions and dropping it down a little bit more and a little but more till you reach that point where you believe you can communicate yourself to the audience. That?s all there is to it. I?ve lost loved ones in my life, and I?m a father?but really, it?s about knowing how to grieve before anything. Like Sarah said, you have to be honest with the situation?you have to look into your scene partner?s eyes and take from them, their feelings and their emotions. I?ll tell you like this, if you sat backstage and cried for an hour before the show, you?d be done.
TSW: How do you define this play?
PD: This is a contemporary drama ? a drama that?s a mirror to life. In intense circumstances people will usually turn to humor to survive. It?s like attending a wake. There?s an obvious air of sadness surrounding the situation, but it?s sprinkled with the laughter of people communicating and interacting and remembering. So in essence, yes, it is a drama?but I have both laughed and cried my way through six weeks of rehearsal.
TSW: On that note, what do you want the audience to walk away with?
PD: As I mentioned, there?s really not one thing I want them to walk away with. The play itself is very ambiguous. It?s not tidy, or all tied up at the end. Nor is it a performance where people are going to get up and go, ?Oh, thank God, everything is okay.? There?s suggestion that there has been some forward movement but it ends on a hopeful, but not a certain note.
SW: It?s such a complex piece. I don?t know if you can predict how someone is going to respond. For me it?s an acceptable, personal performance, even for two people sitting next to each other, or a married couple, or a mother and daughter, I imagine they will each experience the play very differently because it?s so personal.
PD: Let me go back, if I were to think about one thing that kind of resonates for me, it would be the idea of people connecting with each other. If I look at myself and how mundane we can become when interacting with the people that we love?but then, in an instant, they can be gone?perhaps the idea is to invest in our lives and the ones we care for. That?s what I take away.
(6:45).
Rabbit Hole opens this weekend at the Vandivort Center Theatre. For ticket information call 417-831-8001 or visit www.vctheatre.com.
Enjoy.
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Source: http://tagsgf.com/2011/09/10/the-statlers-waldorf-qa-with-cast-of-rabbit-hole/
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