‘The Amazing Sex Life of Rabbits’- What the “Have – Nots” Will Do to Have

By Alix Cohen

Married 7 years, Bobby (Schoen Hodges) and his second wife, Elise (Leigh Wulff) are on the ropes. Her catering company has imploded; his assistant professorship replaced by substitute teaching in the New York City school system. (Bobby is an unpublished novelist.) Their marriage is under stress.

The couple’s dinner guests are Bobby’s first wife Danielle (Rebecca Larsen) and her husband Carson (Richardson Cisneros-Jones). Danielle is a successful psychiatrist and sex therapist with an upcoming book and something of a sexpot. Carson is a self-made millionaire who personifies the term supercilious. (Packing 5 wines – from his vineyard- in a cooler- is the least of it.)

Danielle has said she and Carson have a proposition to make or the couples would never have socialized. (Oddly the meal is comprised of noted aphrodisiacs.) Difference in the classes is blatantly manifest in appearance, references, and morality. As
to rabbits, Danielle has seen them outside and was inspired to buy a stuffed toy bunny at a local gas station. Sexual proclivity
is commented upon. The prop is wryly used.

Danielle is unable to have a child and wants Bobby to provide sperm. The struggling couple are appalled until offered a fortune. Caveats, however, create a major ick factor. When Elise and Bobby again back away, the stakes are raised. Elise buckles first. This might be their only chance for survival.

We’re in the territory of 1993 film Indecent Proposal wherein a night of sex is purchased by a wealthy man attracted to a married woman whose husband will then be able to fulfill is dreams. Destructive jealousy predictably follows souring the windfall.

Playwright Michael Shaw Fisher attributes all of his characters with that awareness. After considerable sex – presented in flashes of vivid interaction- the plot revs into high gear with revelation upon revelation. We learn a secret about Elise’s own hoped-for motherhood, Danielle’s declared method of absentee child-raising- dashing Bobby’s visions of the child’s well being, and ultimate Machiavellian motivation of the rich folks.

That Elise finds a method of comeuppance is a clever twist. Whether the price justifies results is a provocative subject of discussion.

Authors who have sufficient perspective to direct their own plays are rare. Acting here is way, way over the top. The cast all have parentheses- with Leigh Wulff garnering the most real moments- but overall, the play would land infinitely better with fewer histrionics and raised voices. Sex, however, is visually well handled.

Mia Criss’s set is economically apt.
Props and costumes by Alli Miller-Fisher look cheap. While household goods might come from Goodwill, Danielle and Carson’s outfits appear neither stylish nor expensive.
Charlie Kilgore’s lighting is excellent.

Photos by Molly Murphy Weinberg
Opening: Richardson Cisneros-Jones (Carson), Leigh Wulff (Elise), Schoen Hodges (Bobby), Rebecca Larsen (Danielle)

The Amazing Sex Life of Rabbits
Written and Directed by Michael Shaw Fisher
Soho Playhouse 15 Vandam Street
https://www.sohoplayhouse.com/see-a-show/the-amazing-sex-life-of-rabbits
Through March 28, 2026