The Hole opens with a medley of tunes from the war years and a montage of voices from newsreels, after which the lights come up on a man mopping his floor ineptly. He makes the best of the resultant puddle by doing a little dance in the water. Figuratively speaking, this will not be the last time that the man, Peter, creates a mess and attempts to rescue himself with fancy footwork. Mary, the reason for the house cleaning, arrives. It takes a while to figure out their relationships, but it takes them a while, too.

It turns out that Peter is a graduate student in political science at Harvard and Mary is his sweetheart from their hometown in Utah. She thinks Peter is the most intelligent man she has ever met. Smart he may be, but Peter is so lacking in social skills that he nearly screws up the proposal.

Then things get complicated. With World War II nearly over and the Cold War looming, Peter's mentor at Harvard, the deliciously named Dr. Hissinger, has offered him a top secret government job as an "invisible soldier." The job entails a lot of traveling.

Over ensuing decades, this work takes a toll on their marriage, but it's clear that Peter and Mary could do considerable damage to each other without outside help. Although there is a specific hole that gives the play its title--a psychic abyss into which Peter has felt himself disappearing most of his life--there are others that the audience gets to fill in, either immediately or perhaps the morning after, concerning how the characters have become who they are.

Jim Porterfield played Peter and Michelle Mountain was Mary under the direction of Guy Sanville.

Photos by Danna Segrest