If you get a chance to see “Rabbit Hole” at the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center in Portland when it opens later this week, pay attention to the set.

Designer Craig Robinson has created four aspects of the home of Becca and Howie, an upper-middle class couple from suburban New York whose lives have been ripped apart by the death of their 4-year-old son.

Much of the action of the play occurs in the kitchen and living room, which are the most prominent features of the set. Tucked away in the back is the boy’s bedroom, left mostly unchanged since his death. Off to the side of the stage is the entryway of the house, represented by a solid front door and shingled exterior.

Suspended from the ceiling above the room is the home’s exterior fascia, fractured in parts to represent a home broken apart by tragedy.

Robinson has made brilliant use of his space, and done an effective job creating four distinct settings within one set.

“Rabbit Hole” is a deeply personal and emotional play, telling the story of Becca and Howie and how they cope with their loss and, ultimately, survive their tragedy.

To make the play as meaningful as possible, director Brian P. Allen encouraged cast members to bring items of personal significance to populate the set. Denise Poirier, who plays Becca, hung a still life painting of fruit in the kitchen, painted by her brother.

Kathleen Kimball, who plays Izzy, Becca’s sister, hung pictures from her kids’ bedrooms in the child’s room. And Allen hung art from his own home in Scarborough in the living room of the set.

The rocking chair in the bedroom is from Allen’s grandmother.

“I always try to find something like that,” said Allen. “I’m a sentimental guy. I was very close to my grandmother. When she died, my sister and I both got some of her things, and it means a lot to be able to use them in the shows.”

The show opens on Thursday.

Speaking of exceptional set design, Portland Stage Company’s Anita Stewart is exporting her talents to New York. She has designed the set for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s production of Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame.”

It’s very impressive that Stewart is designing for BAM, though it’s not the first time she has taken her talents elsewhere. A few years ago, she designed for the Guthrie in Minneapolis.

BAM, which dates to 1861, brings international performing arts and film to Brooklyn. It has a 2,200-seat theater and a smaller concert hall.

Two Maine high schools will represent Maine at the New England One-Act Drama Festival, set for April 17-19 in Rutland, Vt.

Maine schools invited to attend are Freeport and Falmouth high schools. Falmouth won the Class A title at the Maine Drama Festival, and Freeport finished second in Class B.

Freeport will perform the original play “Conversations In a Box.”

Going to the regional drama festival is the highest honor a school can receive. The Freeport recognition is especially noteworthy: It will be the first time in the festival’s 80-year history that a student-written play will be performed, said Tim Ryan, Freeport’s drama director.

The schedule is tentative, but the Maine schools likely will perform on April 18.

Ryan said the drama club must raise between $3,000 and $4,000 to attend the event.

“As you can imagine, the students – and director – are pretty pumped and honored to be invited to perform at this prestigious event,” he said in an e-mail to theater friends.

A solid 30 members of Portland's performing arts community will support their friend and colleague Daniel Noel Monday night, for a benefit on his behalf at Portland Stage Company.

Noel, an actor and playwright, lost nearly his entire collection of art, first-edition books, vinyl LPs and manuscripts when his Portland apartment flooded in January.

Noel had been away from his apartment, house sitting at a friend’s place, when the flood, caused by burst pipes, occurred. By the time the mishap was discovered, the damage was done.

He estimates that he lost almost all of his 1,700 books - many of them signed and many others first editions – and a large collection of art by local artists. Most of his 700 albums were damaged, along with a collection of antiques.

At 7:30 p.m. Monday, his friends will present a benefit show for Noel at Portland Stage, titled “After the Flood.” People who attend are asked to donate $10 at the door. Money raised on Monday will help Noel replace furniture, clothing, appliances and personal items.

The list of performers is a who’s-who of the Portland theater scene. Subject to change, the roster looks like this: James Herrera, Gordon Tweedie, Moira Driscoll, Ian Carlson, Nate Amandon, James Hoban, Deb Freeman, Peter Brown, Duane Pierson, Mark Honan, Ron Botting, Christine Marshall, Karen Ball, J.P. Guimont, Patricia Buckley, Ted Tibbits, Susan and Tony Reilly, Bob Gans, Andrew Harris, Harlan Baker, Madelaine Paine, Thomas Smallwood, Martin Steingesser, Carolyn Gage, Kevin Neales, Jay Piscopo and Hans Spencer.

Noel wrote “Longfellow: A Life in Words,” and appears regularly in plays in Portland and around Maine.

The theater scene is buzzing this week. At least four shows are playing in the Portland area, including “To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday,” which opens Thursday and runs only through the weekend at USM in Gorham.

Also opening Thursday, appropriate for Valentine’s Day, is “Prelude to a Kiss” by Good Theater at the St. Lawrence in Portland.

Continuing are “Fully Committed” starring Dustin Tucker at Portland Stage, and “The Pillowman” by Mad Horse at the studio theater at Portland Stage.

“Fully Committed” closes on Sunday. Tucker is getting a standing-O every night. It’s a one-man show, and Tucker plays somewhere around 35 characters. His main character is a reservation clerk at a haughty NYC restaurant. All the other characters are those he interacts with over the course of the day.

Writing in Monday’s PPH, Steve Feeney gave “The Pillowman” by Mad Horse a solid review. One of the most-talked about plays in America, “The Pillowman” is dark and funny, exactly the kind of show for Mad Horse.

Good Theater’s “Prelude to a Kiss” is the Portland premiere for the Tony- and Pulitzer-nominated show. It premiered in California in 1988, and moved off-Broadway in 1990 before opening on Broadway starring Timothy Hutton and Mary-Louise Parker. It ran for 440 performances on Broadway, garnered a Tony nomination for best play, and was a Pulitzer finalist for drama.

Bob Fish directs the Good Theater production, which stars Brian Chamberlain, Tess Van Horn and Chris Horton.

And speaking of Good Theater, I caught “Marvelous! The Judy Garland Song Book” on Saturday night. A tribute to Garland and her remarkable voice, the show is a perfect vehicle for Maine-based singer Kelly Caufield. More than once, I felt that Caufield was as good a singer as I’ve seen on a Portland stage in a long, long time.

“Marvelous!” is closed now, but will be back. The show is designed to travel, and it almost certainly will resurface soon. When it does, go.