Konnor Graber

‘Rabbit Hole’ a careful exploration of painful subject

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By John Lyle Belden

Eclipse Productions of Bloomington* presents the Pulitzer-winning drama, “Rabbit Hole,” by David Lindsay-Abare, which is a challenge to watch – not because it’s done badly, but because it is done so well.

Real-world married couple Kate Weber and Jeremy J. Weber play Becca and Howie Corbett, in whose suburban New York home the play is set. Months earlier, their four-year-old son Danny was struck and killed by a car when the boy chased his dog into the street. Becca is still dealing not only with the pain of grief but also with the constant presence of Danny’s clothes and possessions. Howie maintains a strong front, but privately watches VCR tapes from Danny’s last months before the accident, and sees even taking clothes to Goodwill as “erasing” their son. The couple had gone to a support group for parents who lost children, but Becca found their sentiments infuriating, so Howie goes alone.

We also meet Izzy (Trick Blanchfield), Becca’s sister whose irresponsible lifestyle is changing thanks to a surprise pregnancy by her musician boyfriend. Nat (Beth Fort), mother of the two women, is also present, cocktail in hand. Her attempts at comfort and relating to loss bring up her own unresolved pain over son Arthur, Becca and Izzy’s older brother, who died of suicide.

In addition, there is Jason Willett (Sam Durnil), the teenager who was at the wheel of the vehicle that hit Danny, dealing with his own feelings of responsibility.

The five visible characters are surrounded by an orbit of others whose presence are felt, including Arthur; Izzy’s boyfriend and his now-ex (an encounter with whom Izzy relates in the first scene); the ever-barking dog; and the long-time friends with children who haven’t called since the funeral.

The star at the center, of course, is Danny. Every conversation carries the weight of his absence. As Howie watches the tape, family moments are heard and seen in a projection that bathes the set with the happy boy’s presence.

Flashes of humor help make the moments of raw emotion bearable and relatable. Each person has their well-intentioned mis-steps on their way forward through the weeks that follow.

The Webers’ natural chemistry helps inform the longing between their characters struggling with potential estrangement. Each presents a soul nearing the breaking point; she as she cries out, he as he holds everything in. Blanchfield, ever reliable in a free-spirit role, transmutes smoothly as she becomes the voice of reason. Fort stirs our sympathies with her complex character, dealing with the loss of both son and grandson as best she can. Durnil handles well a teen given a burden way beyond his maturity to shoulder. Still, Jason’s brave naïve gesture becomes an unlikely turning point.

The play is directed by Konnor Graber, whose approach draws us in with compelling performances, the projected video, and the use of songs during low-light scene transitions that reflect the mood and plot. Lighting is by Allie Mattox, sound by Joshua Lane, set design by technical director Shayna Survil, with Alec Guerra as stage manager.

This drama is worth the effort to see as it eases us through this couple’s process, engaging us with a reminder that life can and must continue, even as those who departed linger in spirit.

Performances are Friday through Sunday, Aug. 8-10 at The Constellation Playhouse, 107 W. 9th St., Bloomington. For tickets and info, see eclipseproductionscompany.com.

*(No relation to the “Eclipse” Indy young artist program.)  

Getting in our ‘Steps’

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By John Lyle Belden

In a bizarre coincidence that Alfred Hitchcock would find delightful, this last weekend saw two openings of the British thriller-turned-farce, “The 39 Steps,” adapted by Patrick Barlow from a four-hand comedy by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, heavily based on Hitchcock’s 1935 film of the same name, based somewhat on the 1915 novel by John Buchan.

The movie is notable for helping establish the drama film tropes of man-on-the-run and the potential comedy goldmine of two people who don’t get along being chained to each other. The more interesting scenes and twists? Hitch’s idea.

As noted, there are two productions spaced about three counties apart. Hyperion Players presents its “39 Steps” at the Switch Theatre in Fishers. Meanwhile, Eclipse Productions plays its version in Waldron Auditorium in downtown Bloomington.

The plot (for both): In the 1930s, Richard Hannay, a Canadian living in London, seeks diversion in a music hall featuring a performance by Mister Memory, during which he encounters a woman who ends up back at his flat (oh!), then mysteriously stabbed in the back (ugh!). She had warned Hannay of some international spy intrigue, and her death convinces him to go to Scotland – while London police seek him for the woman’s murder – to figure out what’s happening, including the identity of The Thirty-Nine Steps. On the way, he dodges a police patrol by kissing a woman on the train, who responds by turning him in to his pursuers. As luck will have it, she will later encounter him again, and again betray him. Mayhem follows Hannay up to the Highland moors and eventually back down to London for the climactic showdown that could clear his name and save England (at least for a few years).   

The Barlow script amps up the inherent humor of its Hitchcockian quirks and is staged with improvised props and four actors: one to play Hannay, one to be the women he encounters, and a couple of “Clowns” who play all the other roles.

The Hyperion production does this play silly; the Eclipse production does it weird. Both do it excellently.

In Fishers, Hyperion Players emphasizes the master of suspense. The script does have nods to other Hitchcock films, but here we also get a “Frenzy” of references in the curtain speech. Also, there are a few birds around the stage (crows, I believe, which counts as attempted “murder”).

Josh Elicker plays Hannay appropriately amused and bewildered by all the bizarre goings-on. Sarah Eberhardt is the leading lady, employing comically outrageous accents as German Annabel Schmidt and Scottish Margaret, contrasted with the more natural manner of Pamela (the woman on the train).  The Clowns are frenetically and effectively played by Becca Bartley and Ryan Moskalick, who makes a brilliant Mister Memory. Evangeline Bouw directs.

The set, designed by Beth Fike, looks like a stage with random pieces upon it like it’s between shows. The players make good use of items including a door frame, a piece of wall with a window, and a single comfy armchair. The plot moves along earnestly following the beats of the film, but in a manner showing they don’t take themselves too seriously. The result is like a spy-thriller sitcom.

Down in Bloomington, Eclipse (no relation to the summer student company in Indy) emphasizes the Clown aspect of the production. In fact, in a nod to theatre traditions including commedia dell’arte, we have one regular actor, Konnor Graber as our dashing Hannay, dealing with a small troupe of traditional costume-and-makeup clowns: Shayna Survil (the leading ladies), Steve Scott, Vera Wagler, and Jada Buehler. Having three rather than two “Clown” players makes for creative division of roles, including Mister Memory simultaneously presented by Wagler and Buehler, working almost like conjoined twins adorned in classic Tragedy and Comedy masks.

Speaking of which, assistant director Jeremy J. Weber invites all in attendance to put on one of the provided masks (yours to keep) to help immerse yourself in the goings-on. Director Kate Weber and the company arranged the seating surrounding a central area (suggesting a circus) where most of the action takes place. Gags and props are exaggerated, and a fight scene becomes like a professional bout with Survil walking the perimeter with a Ring Girl’s sign. The wild goings-on and sharply executed physical comedy almost overshadow the story’s plot. Still, this unique experience is worth the drive down to B-town.

So try one – or both! – of “The 39 Steps.”

Hyperion’s plays Thursday through Saturday at The Switch Theatre (Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy) 10029 126th St., Fishers. Tickets at hyperionplayers.com.

Eclipse’s plays Thursday through Sunday at Waldron Auditorium, 122 S. Walnut St., Bloomington. Tickets at eclipseproductionscompany.com.

A strong look at fragile relationships

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By John Lyle Belden

Eclipse Productions of Bloomington (no relation to the summer program in Indy) is filling the theatre niche of bold, provocative productions that Indianapolis has with companies such as Theatre Unchained or American Lives Theatre. This approach comes into sharp focus with their present staging of “Closer,” by Patrick Marber.

The drama premiered in London in 1997, the U.S. in 1999, and adapted into a film in 2004, and all versions are notable for their frank, unflinching look at intimate relationships – psychological and physical – among two men and two women who find one another in an unusual tangle of coincidence and dark serendipity. “Everyone loves a big lie,” one of them says, alluding to a major theme of the play.

Though it has nothing to do with this story (and isn’t played), if you couldn’t sit through the Nine Inch Nails hit of the same name (the “I wanna f**k you like an animal” song), don’t bother seeing this. But if you’re open to it, director Kate Weber has created what she calls “a piece of elevated theater masked in a raw and bold human emotion.”

“I never look where I’m going,” says Alice (Shayna Survil), her only excuse for stepping into traffic in front of Dan (Konnor Graber) where she is struck by a vehicle. In the emergency room, their relationship begins. A doctor (Jeremy J. Weber) notices the question-mark shaped scar on Alice’s leg – an injury she refuses to elaborate on, except to say it was from the wreck that killed her parents.

Dan, an obituary writer for a local newspaper, then writes a novel using Alice as inspiration. But upon meeting Anna (Patricia Maureen Francis), the professional photographer taking his book’s headshot, he becomes smitten with her. The pieces of our romantic quadrilateral fall into place in bizarre fashion when Dan draws the doctor, Larry, into his own twisted meet-cute with Anna.

Thus goes a sort of dramatic dance among the foursome, involving manipulation and betrayal as well as striving for authentic relationships and, perhaps, love. While we get very mature content and language, there is stunningly no nudity – even in a cleverly-executed yet erotic strip-club dance – as the focus is on the ravaging of feelings and souls more than their bodies. It all builds to final moments of reckoning, in which the devastating truth of the “crying girl” is revealed at last.

We don’t get a hero or villain here, just people drawn by very human impulses to do well-meaning or hurtful things. This is especially so with Graber’s Dan, a man in his mid-thirties who reveals an immature, needy personality. At times we want to like him, others to hate him. Survil maintains Alice as a sexy cypher, a hothouse flower in her late teens (at the beginning) just wanting to be kept, an American of unknown origin making her own way in London – as inscrutable as the question of her scar. Weber maintains Larry as close to “normal” as we get in this setting, with his own quirks and while fairly dignified, wouldn’t turn down a good shag if it comes his way. Francis (a/k/a Trick Blanchfield to Indy audiences) cultivates Anna’s own complexity, complete with a fortress of feeling at which both men tear at the walls. Her darkest moment is one of the most raw we have seen on stage this year.

Get “Closer” with performances Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 21-24, at Waldron Firebay Theatre (first floor of the Waldron Arts Center), 122 S. Walnut, Bloomington. Get tickets at eclipseproductioncompany.com.

Witness a special day for ‘Five Women’

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By John Lyle Belden

Eclipse Productions of Bloomington (no relation to the student program in Indianapolis) is establishing itself by immersive productions with mature themes. This time, despite the trigger warnings, we have a comedy.

“Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” reveals the quirky genius of Alan Ball, predating his award-winning screenwriting in “American Beauty” and television’s “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood.” Directed by Jeremy J. Weber and Konnor Graber – who show solidarity by attending in matching floor-length gowns – they have us enter through a “closet” to witness the goings-on in the bedroom of Meredith Marlowe (Jen Wells), whose oh-so-perfect sister just got married.

The title refers to the fact that Meredith is one of five bridesmaids in the lavish ceremony at the Marlowes’ Knoxville, Tenn., home in the early 1990s, wearing identical lavender dresses (complete with matching hats and torturous high heels) that they despise. The quintet all find refuge in this room: Cousin Frances (Jada Buehler) is uncomfortably open about being “a Christian” though at her first appearance she quickly breaks the Commandment on coveting, as well as nearly the one about stealing. Trisha (Shayna Survil) had formerly been the bride’s “bad influence” friend, and now that her obligation is done, hopes to find someone for mindless sex. Georgeanne (Kate Weber) is a full bottle of champaign into a respite from her own lousy marriage, wishing a past lover would notice her instead of some other woman in a backless dress. Finally, Mindy (Vera Wagler), the good-natured lesbian sister of the groom, just wants to be away from all the judgmental looks from family and wedding guests.

A clever aspect of this play is that at least three characters become well known to us despite never appearing on stage – the bride Tracy (who all agree is beautiful and successful), groom Scott McClure (whom all the women pity), and the eternal bad-boy Tommy Valentine (former fiancé of Tracy who has hit on or slept with all five other women). As we learn more about past relationships, we see the lasting effects of past trauma that draw shadows over the expected joys of this day.

The performances reveal the unexpected chemistry among these very different individuals brought together by a rather unfortunate uniform. Buehler’s sanctimonious Frances can be a bit much, but her naïve charm keeps her likable. Survil has Trisha wear “jaded” like a badge of honor, or as armor over sensitive scars. Weber plays Georgeanne as someone who has lived a lot in her three decades, mostly for others, but hasn’t given up on youthful exploits just yet. Wagler’s Mindy is the most optimistic and (the irony is noted) girly of the group, though she has her own resentment to work through. Wells’ Meredith embodies her dichotomy as the host (it’s her room, and her joint they pass around) while still feeling stuck as a little sister – being younger than Tracy, Trisha, and Georgeanne, and held back by a traumatic adolescent event. Their interactions build naturally with their shared experience in a pre-smartphone world where all that matters is the sisterhood in the room, contrasted with the formal chaos downstairs and outside the window.

We also get a visit from Mindy’s handsome cousin, Tripp Davenport, played by Jo Moran with the same exuberant charisma they put into the Constellation production of “Alex Gold” earlier this year. Tripp does present a noble challenge for one of our ladies, but we suspect Ball wrote him in for his rather mundane usefulness in the final scene.

Performances run through Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Waldron Firebay Theatre (an intimate black-box stage on the first floor of Waldron Arts Center) 122 S. Walnut St., Bloomington. Get tickets at EclipseProductionsCompany.com.

Gritty ‘Streetcar’ an immersive ride

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By John Lyle Belden

A relative newcomer to the Hoosier theatre scene, Eclipse Productions of Bloomington (no relation to the student company in Indy) presents its take on Tennessee Williams’s “A Streetcar Named Desire.” One of the founders, Konnor Graber, told us Eclipse’s shows “are going darker, grittier, and authentic.” This stage classic turned out to be the perfect vehicle, steered by director Kate Weber (another founder, along with Ashley Prather and Jeremy J. Weber).

Perhaps coincidentally running during Mental Health Awareness Month, the production focuses on the growing madness of Miss Blanche DuBois, an aging Southern Belle who lost both her family and their former plantation, Belle Reve, in Mississippi, and goes to her only living relative, sister Stella Kowalski, in a cozy working-class apartment in New Orleans’ French Quarter.

Actually, we meet Blanche (Dania Leova) before the play officially starts, as the lobby has transformed to the vistors’ parlor of a Louisiana mental hospital, not long after the unfortunate woman’s committal in 1947. She is quiet and literally restrained in her chair, while a nurse (Connie Shakalis) reads poems by Poe to keep her calm. We are entertained by a visiting singer (Jen Wells, who is also stage manager) accompanied by Noel Patrick Koontz on guitar.

The theatre doors open, and Blanche is wheeled in before we are allowed to enter and take our seats. Wells follows, her voice lilting “Dream a Little Dream” as she climbs through the audience. For a moment, Blanche is at the corner of the stage, perhaps wondering, how did it all come to this? A quick blackout, and we all proceed to find out.

Leova is exquisite as Blanche, charm laid on as thick as the region’s humidity. She has us believing her despite ourselves, never relenting as the center of attention, though we see her trustworthiness slowly erode. Graber is powerful as Stella’s husband, Stanley. Little effort is made to make the man likable, though he has a personal magnetism that keeps his friends and wife loyal. His is another study in untreated mental issues, a lifetime of class resentment and being called “pollack,” capped by service in World War II, leaving him with a constant undercurrent of rage, only abated when transformed into lustful attention to Stella (Shayna Survil), who is addicted to him like a drug. He practically snarls his lines, at or edging on a shout; every object he handles gets slammed somewhere; and sensing a fellow façade, he sees through Blanche from the start and never lets her forget it. Survil, for her part, is endearing as she struggles to stay the voice of reason, the mediator between her unstable housemates. Alas, she also has what would now be classed a trauma bond with her often abusive husband.

Shakalis and Benjamin Loudermilk are charming in their own way as neighbor/landlords Eunice and Steve Hubbell, in their stormy but loving relationship. Playing Stanley and Steve’s bowling and poker buddies are Koontz as Pablo and Jeremy Weber as Mitch, a single man living with his ailing mother, who takes a fancy to Blanche – a relationship she proceeds to toy with and exploit. Weber ably portrays both Mitch’s infatuation and his solid sense of honor.

The performance is accentuated by the growing intervention of Blanche’s intrusive mental static, music, and other noise provided by sound designer Joshua Lane. Kate Weber credits the combined efforts of her direction, Lane’s soundscape and lighting by Allie Mattox for the overall effect. We all become witness to Blanche’s ever-worsening state, snapped by a rash act that, with her at last speaking truth, no one believes – or wants to.

Bearing in mind appropriate trigger warnings, come aboard the “Streetcar” this Thursday through Sunday, May 16-19, at the Ted Jones Playhouse, 107 W. 9th St., Bloomington. Get info and tickets at eclipseproductionscompany.com.