About Us

Rabbit Hole Ensemble was founded in September 2005 by Edward Elefterion, Emily Hartford, and Paul Daily. Edward had worked with Emily and Paul in different contexts for a number of years, and all three sought to create an environment in which a community of artists could be built, who would work and grow together as an ensemble.

We didn’t like the idea of waiting for someone else to hire us so that we could make theatre, so we founded the company. We think of Rabbit Hole as a place where we can work on material that challenges us as artists and helps us to grow as human beings. It’s an artistic home where we do not need to prove ourselves to anyone but ourselves. We hoped that we would find other like-minded artists, those who believe that the actor/audience relationship is where creativity thrives and who believe in a theatre where less stuff means more involvement on everyone’s part, and we’ve been lucky enough to find them.

What We've Learned

Since our formation, we’ve learned that what we offer audiences (our minimalist, actor-centric aesthetic) is more unique than we first thought. And also, audiences have let us know in no uncertain ways, that they really respond to what we do and especially how we do it. For instance, if you didn’t know anything about us you might be surprised to walk in to see our show, take The Night of Nosferatu for example, and find an empty stage and no pre-show music.

During the first few minutes you might be surprised to see the actors holding clip lights and lighting each other while making sound effects of an old wooden ship in a storm…and you’d definitely be surprised when Nosferatu spoke and you heard a multitude of voices but saw only one mouth moving. Many audience members reported that they thought we’d filtered Nosferatu’s voice through the sound system, but then realized that it was all done live by the ensemble who managed to create a living, flexible, highly textured vocal effect using only themselves and each other. We love engaging audiences by doing work that demands a lot from the actor yet seems simple and effortless…and from what they say, they love being engaged that way.

I suppose we could trace this back to how limited human contact has gotten in the current climate of instant information and perpetual connectivity. We think that, while technology is great and fun, it comes at a cost far beyond what our pocketbooks bear: the cost of human engagement. The theatre is the only cultural institution that brings people together to imagine something as a group. In many ways, theatre is the art of presence. We make presence our priority and eschew technology in favor of the imagination, in favor of playful, intelligent, available mind of the audience.