It’s a play that has been performed around the world, but each night by a different actor.
Any actor who performs it must have never seen or read it before he or she receives the script on stage at the beginning of the show. There is no rehearsal, there is no director; there are only minimal lights and props. Yet those who have seen NassimSoleimanpour’sWhite Rabbit, Red Rabbit say it’s one of the most arresting things they’ve ever seen on stage.
The Iranian playwright’s work will receive eight performances at the Oconomowoc Arts Center over the next two weeks, thanks to Tom Klubertanz, theater teacher at Oconomowoc High School. He, along with Brian Mani, one of the actors who will tackle White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, joins Lake Effect's Bonnie North in the studio to discuss this unique piece of work.
"When [Tom] asked me to be a part of this, it took me a few days to decide," Mani says. "Normally when someone asks me to do a show, during those couple of days I would read it and contemplate it. This was sort of an act of faith. I thought, 'OK, do I want to be alone on stage reading something for the first time in front of an audience?'"
Brian Mani will star in the January 23rd performance of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at the Oconomowoc Arts Center. Klubertanz's Oconomowoc High School students will perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland this summer and the eight performances of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit will raise funds for them to go.
