Dark Themes in Drama

Looking over my recent posts - but keeping the paper I have to write in mind - the questions and thoughts I have, naturally, tend towards the play I will direct.
I chose seven plays to read. I have sufficiently eliminated four, I have one more to read, and then I'll make my decision.

I am a little worried, however, as the ones I have left are a little bit dark. How did this happen? I am not sure. These plays just spoke to me more. I feel more of a real connection to these plays. And no, I'm not emo! I don't connect to them because I am feeling what the characters feel - I just think that they are portraying something closer to reality than some of the others I read.
The play that I am leaning towards at this point is 'Night Mother, and if you'll remember - it is about suicide. Marsha Norman doesn't sugarcoat it one bit! Take a look at this synopsis:

As the play begins Jessie asks for her father's service revolver and calmly announces that she intends to kill herself. At first her mother refuses to take her seriously, but as Jessie sets about tidying the house and making lists of things to be looked after, her sense of desperate helplessness begins to build. In the end, with the inexorability of genuine tragedy, she can only stand by, stunned and unbelieving, as Jessie quietly closes and locks her bedroom door and ends her profound unhappiness in one fatal, stunning and deeply disturbing moment—a moment never to be forgotten by those who have witnessed, and come to understand, her plight.

Yes, it is dark. It is a play dealing with raw, human emotion. Jessie is calm and controlled as she tells her mother why she would like to kill herself.

My potential question - the one I would write a six page paper answering - is if a play with such dark subject matter is appropriate for a general audience. I believe that it is, without a doubt. In fact, I believe that it is necessary to produce plays with dark themes and real problems. There are some who would disagree with me.