Get your tissues at the ready. This spring, Milligan College’s theatre department will be putting on a production of the Pulitzer prize winning “Rabbit Hole,” being directed by our own Richard Major, professor of theatre and director of drama productions.
“Rabbit Hole” is more dramatic than the recent plays that Milligan has produced, such as “A Toby Show” or the Milligan 150th special, “Forward with Faith: The Milligan College Story.”
The play tells the story of a young couple trying to deal with the death of their son eight months before. Their marriage is strained because of this, as they both try to grieve in their own way.
“Because the themes of this play consist of death and ‘other mature themes,’ this is not really the best play for a younger audience,” Major said. “I wanted a more dramatic play and had a cast of people that could handle it.”
“Rabbit Hole” was written in 2006 and was premiered at the Pacific Playwrights Festival in Costa Mesa, Calif. It then went on to receive a Pulitzer prize in 2007, five nominations and one win in the Tony Awards, and a film adaptation in 2010.
Major has been teaching/overseeing the theatre program at Milligan for 32 years to date. He is a graduate of Milligan, where he got a Bachelor of Arts in speech and theatre, and then completed his Master of Fine Arts at Michigan State.
Major stated that this would be the first production of this play in our region and that it would be something new to the folks at Milligan and the areas surrounding it. He added that, with Pamela Adolphi being the theatrical technical director and scene and lights designer for the play, it is sure to be eye- and heart-catching.