This past weekend the Milligan College theatre students performed their spring play, “Rabbit Hole,” by David Lindsay-Abaire. This play portrays a family as they go through the struggle of losing their son.
The script follows Becca, played by senior psychology major Kristen Branch, and Howie, played by freshman Bible major Drew Hawkins. The play begins after the accidental death of Danny, Becca and Howie’s son.
“This play is very realistic,” play director and professor of theatre Richard Major said. “Compared to other plays we’ve done in the past, the characters in this play are realistic.”
“Rabbit Hole” takes on a darker tone than other plays performed previously at Milligan. This is because grief and coping with loss are key themes throughout the play.
“There is a moment where every one of the characters questions if what happened was their fault, even though it was an accident,” sophomore production assistant Ashlyn Lightfoot said.
Rehearsals for “Rabbit Hole” began in February, and the production hit several challenges right away, mainly in the loss of close family members.
“I was summoned back to my childhood home in Ohio,” Major said, “to be with my father in what turned out to be his final days.”
During that time Pamela Adolphi–scenic, lighting and costume designer and resident designer–took over and ran practices.
The play ran into more challenges as just a few days before the production, one of the members lost their grandfather.
“We normally put in 60-70 hours of rehearsal,” Major said, “but due to circumstances the cast and crew could only put in about 40 hours total.”
The small cast of five along with the crew had to work hard within the limited hours.
“Coming back from those hard things and still pushing through to put on the show is a little bit of a challenge in itself for them,” Lightfoot said.
This is Lightfoot’s first time involved with Milligan theatre, and she looks forward to being a part of more productions in the future.
The next performance at the Gregory Center will be the Festival of One Act Plays in April.