ONE-EYED RABBIT
...making movies about waking nightmares and real-life monsters.
A One-Eyed Rabbit Film is co-written by Maren Lavelle & Matt Steiner, directed by Maren, and stars Matt, among other talented actors.
We tell visual stories to metabolize our own fears, weaknesses, and dark sides, and always to remind people that they're not alone.
WE ARE a wife & husband filmmaking team...
HORROR FANS - WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME
We named our logo "Benny the Bunny", but the name "One-Eyed Rabbit" comes from the first script we wrote together in which an unlikely detective duo rescues a young woman with a tattoo of a one-eyed rabbit inspired by her childhood toy, a stuffed rabbit missing one button eye.
When you look at a rabbit from the side, you can only see one eye. When you walk around the rabbit and get the full 360, you see it has a second eye on the other side of its head. Philosophically, the one-eyed rabbit represents to us the necessity of varying perspectives in narrative storytelling. Without a diverse array of perspectives, we never see the full picture. We seek to illuminate the full-scope of our humanity one story at a time.
Benny is scraggly and covered in battle wounds from a life full of harrowing experiences. Inspired in form by Frank the Rabbit from Donnie Darko, his left eye is a red camera light blinking to indicate that we are rolling.
the story behind the logo
BENNY THE BUNNY
maren & matt
is a director, producer, and writer that works on character-driven material, especially with a focus on women and queer-centric stories. The "Actor's Director", Maren's background in acting provides her with the skills to encourage nuanced and complex performances. In 2022, she was selected as one of Shoot Online 2022 New Directors of the Year, having her work screened at the DGA Theatre in NYC. Through One-Eyed Rabbit, Maren has directed the award-winning films WENDY (Best Short / New York City Indie Theatre Film Festival), KEEPER (Best Drama Film / Blackbird Film Festival), and MAYA (Best Writer of a Short / Chain Film Festival). Maren directed and co-wrote One-Eyed Rabbit’s upcoming psychological horror film, CLIFTON PARK, an intersection of theatre and cults, which premiered in October 2025 at Screamfest LA. Maren also directed COMING OUT POLYAMOROUS FOR THANKSGIVING which earned her Best Director at the Chain Film Festival, and she produced the feature film THE CONSPIRACISTS, available on Amazon & Tubi.
Maren graduated from Pace University with a B.F.A in Acting. She transitioned from acting to playwriting with her plays premiering in various Off-Broadway venues in NYC: Composition of a Woman (Westside Theatre, 440 Layfayette Studios), The Holding Room (The Sheen Center). Maren was an original member of the Jose Rivera Writers Group. Website: marenlavelle.com
is an actor, writer, and educator originally from Sacramento, California. Off-Broadway/US Tours: Jane Eyre, The Three Musketeers, Macbeth (The Acting Company). Regional: Indian Blood (Studio Arena), Tartuffe (Two River) Television: Homicide City: Charlottesville, Village of the Damned, Pandora's Box, Redrum. Film: Above the Shadows (starring Megan Fox), Bizzy and the AIMEs. Matt also co-wrote, directed, and starred in the short horror comedy The Thing I Never Told You. From 2012-2017, Matt served as the Co-Artistic Director of The Representatives, an NYC-based, site-specific theater company, producing and starring in over 15+ original productions including Veritas (NY Fringe, Cave @ St. George's) and Private Manning Goes to Washington (Edinburgh Fringe, The Studio @ 345). Matt trained as a clown in Europe with master clown teacher Pierre Byland, in NYC with Jane Nichols and Chris Bayes, and holds a BFA from CalArts. Matt is a Lead Teaching Artist at Lincoln Center Education and was a 2018 Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellow.
Website: themarvelousmrmatt.com
CONTACT US
maren@one-eyedrabbit.com
matt@one-eyedrabbit.com
@one_eyedrabbit