Predictably I'm having a hard time deciding exactly how I feel about the American Repertory Theatre's production of "Donnie Darko," now at the Zero Arrow in Cambridge. Marcus Stern's adaptation and direction captures the poignance and bizarre humor of Richard Kelly's insane cult film. I didn't know how to feel about the movie, either, when I first saw it, or even on a recent re-viewing. And I wasn't the only one. "Donnie Darko" was a big-screen flop that became huge on DVD, and there are good reasons why. "Darko" is a tangled tale of adolescent angst and time travel that all but demands repeat viewing (and for me, at least, a Google search) to parse its tangled chain of cause and effect. Stern gets it all up there on stage, but ultimately the surreal story seems to defy the transition to live theater.
Big bunny still plenty scary, though.
Let's hit what works first. Dan McCabe is a capable and appealing Donnie. Like the movie's star, Jake Gyllenhaal, he is older than the character in real life, but he makes a compellingly confused and searching teenager. Donnie has been diagnosed with some form of mental illness, but this may just be a case of adolescent storm that grows much much worse when he starts have conversations with a giant rabbit named Frank. This badass bunny tells him the end of the world is only 
28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds away.
Perry Jackson plays Frank at the ART ,
and costume designer Clint Ramos has made him a terrifyingly good
replica of Frank in the movie, blank-eyed with horrible choppers. The uninitiated will assume that Donnie is, indeed, bull goose looney, and that Frank is a hallucinatory embodiment of...well, his own fear of growing up, or mortality, what have you. But Frank is real, as is the jet engine that crashes into Donnie's bedroom one night while he's out talking with Frank.
Also real is the romantic connection Donnie haltingly forms with the new girl at school, Gretchen. (Even more haltingly than usual when McCabe appeared to forget lines during one scene Wednesday night.) Flora Diaz plays Gretchen wounded and winsome and sexy. Like Jena Malone in the movie, she helps us form an emotional connection with Donnie - we see what he sees in her, and it makes his final sacrifice all the more meaningful.
The Huntington Theatre Company will mark Veteran's Day on Sunday (11/11) by offering free tickets to "Streamers" to military personnel and veterans and their families. Soldiers and vets can get up to four tix to the 7 p.m. performance of David Rabe's scorching Vietnam era play by simply turning up at the box office Sunday anytime from noon on. Obviously this offer is good only while tickets last.
