Guild Hall Players’ ‘Rabbit Hole’ takes a deep dive into grief

Emotions during the pandemic spurred Leo Larson’s choice to direct “Rabbit Hole” for Guild Hall Players.

The play, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for best drama in 2007, will be on stage this weekend.

“Obviously, it’s a really well-written piece, but right now, especially with the pandemic and everything else going on, something I really wanted to explore was grief, and I think ‘Rabbit Hole’ did that,” said Larson, a senior at Wichita Northwest. “It had the realism and the discomfort and the hard process of healing in a way that was realistic and beautiful in a way I hadn’t read anywhere else.”

“Rabbit Hole,” which became a movie in 2010, shows the aftermath of the death of a 4-year-old boy after being struck by a car. Megan Upton-Tyner and Quinn Warren play the boy’s parents.

“It’s one that definitely stuck with me,” Upton-Tyner, a drama teacher at Valley Center High School, said. “There are several lines in the script, the description of grief as ‘a rock you keep in your pocket,’ that really stuck with me. It’s one of my favorites.”

Warren said he was also impressed by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s script.

“It’s just great writing, which is always the key for me to get involved in something,” he said. “The theme of grief is so tricky, and I don’t really know if I’ve ever seen it done well. But this is about as good of an example as there is.”

Julia Miller, Terri Ingram and Warren Swedberg complete the cast.

Upton-Tyner, in her first onstage role in more than 20 years, said she’s seen friends mourn after losing children and her heart breaks for them.

“It’s just really the most unnatural thing to have to lose a child,” she said.

She said the circle of grief has extended through the pandemic, with all of us grieving the loss of experiences, relationships and loved ones.

“And for a lot of that time, we’ve had to grieve alone because of nature of this pandemic,” she said. “This story invites people to explore the process of grieving, finally together. And that’s worth something. That’s part of the beauty of what theater is.”

“Rabbit Hole,” which does contain a few comedic elements, honors the grieving process, said Larson, who is looking into colleges to study playwriting.

“It’s a long road to recovery, no matter if there is hope or not,” he said. “Some of the tragedy is knowing everything is going to be OK, but what a long and hard road it’s going to be.”

“RABBIT HOLE” BY GUILD HALL PLAYERS

When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Feb. 3-5; 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6

Where: St. James Episcopal Church, 3750 E. Douglas

Tickets: $12 adults, $10 students at the door