Rabbit Hole

This show opens like a comedy, with naughty Izzy (Katie Rubin) confessing hilarious indiscretions to her staid older sibling Becca (Elisabeth Nunziato). But gradually the play’s actual agenda emerges. Becca’s grieving for her four-year-old son Danny, who died in an accident eight months earlier. That aching, awful loss is the elephant in the room—everyone tries to avoid mentioning it. Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (who got a Pulitzer last year for this script) takes us through exactly what a family in this horrible situation has to deal with. Nunziato gives her best performance in years. And Kurt Johnson, as the husband, is with her all the way. The expression on Johnson’s face, sitting in a dark room, watching a video of himself and Danny at play, is a wordless study of deep love and unspeakable loss.
B Street Theatre; 7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday; $23-$30. 2711 B Street; (916) 443-5300, www.bstreettheatre.org. Through November 4.