BEAUTY OF THE UNKNOWN: A night at the theatre that refuses to be defined

Disclosure: The author currently serves on the Board of Directors of Big Dawg Theatre Company. This relationship is disclosed to ensure transparency, and does not influence reporting.

Big Dawg Theatre Company’s latest production, "White Rabbit Red Rabbit," running for its second, and final, weekend in the Ruth & Bucky Stein Studio Theatre at Thalian Hall from February 19-22, is an all in ride for all involved, and is NOT to be missed.

Walking into the theatre, there is a slightly... different feeling.

Not something one could put a finger on; just a vague, unease, is as close as I can come to a description of the vibe. With "White Rabbit Red Rabbit," everyone knows what they signed up for, which is a great big question mark.

If you read my preview of the show, or any of the cryptic reviews floating around, you know that "White Rabbit Red Rabbit" is a special experience, for the audience and the actor. At the open, the actor du jour walks on stage, and is handed the script for the very first time. In Big Dawg’s staging, they are handed the script by the previous night’s victim performer. From there, they have the very unique task of building the story for the audience, while experiencing the story in real time, page by page.

My reviewing comrades' articles are cryptic for a reason, and this one isn’t any different. A big part of the show is the secret of it all. Suffice to say, the show packs a lot into its hour-ish runtime. 

The beginning of the play leaves one questioning, but as the show goes on, the audience, and the actor, come together to find something truly profound, together. What that “something” exactly is, will be different for everyone, and you will walk out speechless. 

All of that nothingness and dancing around is how I will describe my experience from the audience. Not just for the purpose of this review, but even if you ask me in person. Part of the experience is the shared secret, after all.

But, what was it like from the other side of the equation, I wondered? So asked the “Bunnies,” as the cast has branded themselves, who performed the first weekend for their take.

Steve Vernon said [summarized] he wasn’t sure what to expect going in, and is still working on both what, and how he feels coming out of the experience. To him, the show brought a strange, simultaneous, connection and distance with the audience, “like we took the same road trip with different scenery.” He plans to revisit the script “to try to wrap my head around a few things,” and walks away with a sense of awe over the author’s creation. 

Chad Hsu responded that he went in with no specific expectations, but was “RIDICULOUSLY nervous” going in. He was struck by the unexpected in the script, and the telling/performing of it, leaving the stage with “so many thoughts... existential thoughts and what my limits were,” [he cut the comment short to not give anything away for future “Bunnies”]. He calls the experience “an opportunity to look into one's self and take some stock as to what type of person they are/want to be.”

Jamey Stone went in expecting a challenge, and unsure about being able to hold the audience given the cold read aspect, but found the script did all the heavy lifting. He found the piece striking with its broad, sometimes jarring, tone shifts spanning the gambit from funny to deathly serious, and every point in between. For him the play leaves all involved with “a new perspective on what our true motivations are and how much "in control" we really are in our daily lives.”

Morganna Bridgers approached the play with curiosity, and left the stage “with the feeling of having been planted in the ground like a seed,” though also a bit lonely as the performer. She felt in performing the piece to be in a state of flux, between herself and being a vessel for the author, noting his use of “me” or “I” in the script began to feel “unnervingly unclear,” as to who he was referring to. 

One common theme across the “Bunnies’” responses is the hope that everyone involved found whatever it was that they needed, often mentioning evaluating one’s place, ownership, and freedom in this weird thing we call life and society, on this weird galactic marble we call home. 

They all added a specific desire to huddle with the other performers, and gnaw over their individual experiences with the play on stage. 

If any show is a “thinker,” it’s this one. But, it does it in such a way that you don’t know what you’re really getting into until you are already in it. The script is fun, and approachable, but one thing adds to another, and there you are before you know it. Wherever “there” is.

Walking out of the theatre also had a slightly, different, feeling.  

Something I can only describe as being in a bit of a daze; clear headed, maybe slightly confused, but with a blaring question (or several) pulsing through my brain that I couldn’t quite put a finger on. What those questions are, and what those questions lead to, will be different for everyone, and will send you down your own rabbit hole. 

That may well be one of the author’s points, but it’s left to us to figure it out.

This weekend’s “Bunnies” are (in alphabetical order):

• Kaleb Edley

• Anthony Lawson

• Heather Setzler

• Cathy Street

• Erin Sullivan-Wertz (alternate)

The performer each night is a loosely held secret, that can be decoded with some (very) brief social media sleuthing, or just asking. This show is truly unique and worth a revisit, even if it is the next night. Every show is opening night.

This is the final week of "White Rabbit Red Rabbit" in the Ruth & Bucky Stein Studio Theatre at Thalian Hall. Performance times are 7:30 p.m. Thu-Sat, with Sunday matinees at 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 19 through Sunday, Feb. 22.

Purchase tickets here.