While Danny’s father Howie (sturdy Paul Morella) turns to external ways to deal with his pain—group therapy, and (it is hinted) some extramarital support—his wife wife Becca (Deborah Hazlett) copes with the loss by more subtle, effacing means. She “accidentally” erases a home movie of the boy, puts the family home on the real estate market, and just tries to forget.

Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire is better known for his offbeat comedies (Wonder of the World, Fuddy Meers), so the character of Izzy, Becca’s kid sister and general screwup, comes to his keyboard easily. She pumps some energy into the piece, especially as played by Megan Anderson. Izzy starts the show looking into the refrigerator, and is never far from the kitchen, scarfing bites of torte from the pan or washing down creme caramel with orange juice. Izzy, in time, accomplishes some growth of her own along with Becca and Howie.

But apart from a well-crafted monologue for Becca’s mother Nat, there isn’t too much that’s flashy in the writing of this piece. It proceeds in its own quiet, suburban way.

• Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Mitchell Hébert, Olney Theatre Center, Olney, Maryland

• David Gorsline, member of Facebook Poland

“Faith is not based on science,” Mr. Campbell said [to his class of 10th-grade biology students]. “And science is not based on faith. I don’t expect you to ‘believe’ the scientific explanation of evolution that we’re going to talk about over the next few weeks.”

“But I do,” he added, “expect you to understand it.”

…the Federal Transit Administration authorized project managers to begin major construction on the Orange Line extension [of Metro]…. The FTA letter does not guarantee full funding of the project…. But state and project officials interpreted the letter as an encouraging development, a further signal that the project’s near-demise earlier this year is behind them.

“I wanted a Titian and all I got was a lump of lard,” Lisa gasped.

2. Good blogs reflect focused obsessions. People start real blogs because they think about something a lot. Maybe even five things. But, their brain so overflows with curiosity about a family of topics that they can’t stop reading and writing about it. They make and consume smart forebrain porn. So: where do this person’s obsessions take them?

I’ve got just too many categories in my sidebar.

In the fall of 1963, Elizabeth and Barbara Sweeny, ostensibly daughter and mother, travel to an obscure French pension to consult in discretion with Dr. Giraud (played with hilarious sniffy eccentricity by Jason Lott) to learn the cause of Elizabeth’s mysterious affliction. The only other guests in this small hotel are a CIA-ish American and two playwrights: Tennessee Williams drinking incognito and the yet unpublished Stoppard himself. While the opening scene suggests Stoppard’s Travesties, the hotel’s smugly efficient proprietor (nice work by Daniel Vito Siefring) speaks with an accent more in keeping with one of Sir Tom’s adaptations of Molnar.

Elizabeth soon meets the shadowy Mr. Asher (oh-so cool Michael John Casey), who explains that he is a collector of sun myths from cultures around the world. In his evening visits, Asher tells several of these to Elizabeth, and each is a lovely bit of writing, a set piece for the cast/ensemble to illustrate choreographically. Unfortunately, it’s only in the story told solo by Casey that the play’s solar fables really shine.

The play, premiering in this production, needs some tightening. There’s an awkward transition in the second act that reveals the facts of Elizabeth’s complaint to the rest of the guests. However, the arc of Elizabeth’s journey is compelling, and its resolution (with its whiff of another master of contemporary fantasy, Craig Lucas and his Prelude to a Kiss) is quite satisfying.

• Theories of the Sun, by Kathleen Akerley, directed by Jonathon Church and Kathleen Akerley, Longacre Lea, Callan Theatre, Washington

Downsizing is the norm these days, mostly because of space and economics. “We’re being asked to write for smaller and smaller bands all the time,” [Michael] Starobin [orchestrator of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins] said. “Everybody’s oohing and aahing about South Pacific, but nobody’s saying: ‘Hey! Let’s use big orchestras again.’ Producers don’t want to put money into the music; they’d rather spend $3 million on the scenery.”