Theater Review: WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT (Fountain)

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With White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour currently at the Fountain Theatre, what you encounter is an interesting and provocative theatrical game, a hybrid of “Story Theatre” and immersive Role Playing Game (RPG). On stage is a sparse set that displays the sharp divisions of red and white conveying the impression of a child’s game board. There’s a red-and-white ladder, red-and-white table, two clear glasses, and what may be a vial of poison.

White Rabbit Red Rabbit has no cast per se, and each performance has what could be referred to as a “guest star.”  Or perhaps “designated hitter,” or “Dungeon Master” (if keeping with the RPG motif). Raymond O. Caldwell, the Fountain’s new Artistic Director, came out and explained to the audience how the playwright calls for a different guest to lead the audience at each performance. Another of the playwright’s stipulations is that these “guest stars” are not to have access to the script until they walk onto the stage the night of their assigned appearance. While they will speak with the playwright’s voice, the experience will be as new to them as it is to the audience, who will be conscripted in roles alternately playful and thought-provoking. Those who perform this play may not perform it again. A stage, a story, a script, a performer–but its adherence to theatrical convention ends there. No director, no costumes, no light plot.

Sandra Tsing Loh

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is about rabbits — as well as bears, ostriches, and cheetahs — to the same degree that The Myth of Sisyphus is about a guy with a boulder problem. The seventy minutes of combined monologue, story, and interaction investigates authority, autonomy, complicity, and the decision to live, or not to. The viewer’s response may initially start as good-natured tolerance, but as the performance progresses, the ante is upped, and the audience is increasingly engaged by Soleimanpour’s direct address of the audience, the actor, and the issues raised. The author is Iranian, and wrote this play to go where he could not go at the time, to theaters all over the world. Soleimanpour was denied a visa due to his refusal to perform military service, but was finally permitted to see his work in Australia in 2013, after the diagnosis of an eye disorder released him from the service obligation (the play was written in 2010 and has been performed globally in more than 20 languages).

Sandra Tsing Loh and audience members

For this run, the Fountain has assembled an eclectic roster of interesting personalities such as actress Candy Clark (American Graffiti); Professor of Directing at UCLA Brian Kite; actor Jonathan Slavin (Better Off Ted), Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum Artistic Director Ellen Geer; and Rabbi Anne Brener to name a few (full list below).

On opening night, Mr. Caldwell brought forth actress, author and NPR commentator Sandra Tsing Loh. He introduced her to the audience, handed her a sealed manila folder, and the vial. He then left the stage.

There was a silent moment as Ms. Loh looked out at us with an amused smile that only betrayed a hint of nervousness, pulled the script from the folder, and so it began. And here this review must end. The poet Emily Dickinson advised artists that they tell the truth, but tell it “on a slant.” Red Rabbit White Rabbit is very slanted. Soleimanpour has created a fascinating moral kōan, and like any kōan its value is found in engaging with it, not reading about it. The Fountain Theatre has provided its audience with the unique opportunity to do just that.

photos by Simon Levy/Fountain Theatre

White Rabbit Red Rabbit
Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave.
Fri, Sat & Mon at 8; Sun at 2
ends on March 30, 2025
for tickets ($25–$45), call 323.663.1525 or visit Fountain Theatre
pay-what-you-want and regular seating is available Mondays

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA

• Friday, May 16 at 8: Paul Raci (Academy Award nominee for Sound of Metal)
• Saturday, May 17 at 8: Jonathan Slavin (Santa Clarita Diet, Dr. Ken, Better Off Ted)
• Sunday, May 18 at 2: Kurt Fuller (Evil)
• Monday, May 19 at 8: Guillermo Cienfuegos (artistic director, Rogue Machine)
• Friday, May 23 at 8: Candy Clark (American Graffiti)
• Saturday, May 24 at: Patrick Keleher (Fountain’s Fatherland in NYC)
• Sunday, May 25 at 2: Ellen Geer (artistic director, Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum),
• Monday, May 26 at 8: Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue)
• Friday, May 30 at 8: Maddox K. Pennington (nonbinary writer, professor, stand-up)
• Saturday, May 31 at 8: Jeanne Sakata (actor and playwright)
• Sunday, June 1 at 2: Ben Palacios (Running Point, Palm Royale, Tyler Perry’s SISTAS)
• Monday, June 2 at 8: Pam Trotter (Abbott Elementary)
• Friday. June 6 at 8: Bernard K. Addison (Fountain Theatre, Antaeus, A Noise Within)
• Saturday, June 7 at 8: Joshua Malina (The West Wing)
• Sunday, June 8 at 2: Rabbi Anne Brener (psychotherapist, author, public speaker)
• Monday, June 9 at 8: Brian Kite (Dean, UCLA’s School of Theater Film and Television)
• Friday, June 13 at 8: Behzad Dabu (How to Get Away With Murder),
• Saturday, June 14 at 8: Simone Missick (Luke Cage)
• Sunday, June 15 at 8: Bill Brochtup (NYPD Blue)
• Monday, June 16 at 8: Ava Lalezarzadeh (The Morning Show)
• Friday, June 20 at 8: Chris Renfro (Queer as Folk, Broadway’s Oh, Mary)
• Saturday, June 21 at 8: Harry Groener (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek)
• Sunday, June 22 at 8: Sufe Bradhaw (Veep)