JournalNews Go! section
Sept. 7, 2007

Becca and Howie Corbett are living out the American dream until an accident takes the life of their 4-year-old son.

“Rabbit Hole,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by David Lindsay-Abaire looks at what happens as the family tries to stay connected in the face of extreme grief.

“It’s very lifelike,” said actress Sara Mackie, who plays Izzy, Becca’s sister. “You know these people. You could be in a living room watching this happen.

“Nothing is held back in these people’s coping and grief,” she said, “and the dialogue is written like we talk with over-lapping lines and non sequiturs.”

ETC veterans Annie Fitzpatrick and Drew Fracher play the Corbetts.

“What I admire so much about 'Rabbit Hole’ is that it’s not a play about grieving,” director D. Lynn Meyers said in a statement. “It is undoubtedly a play about healing and moving forward and what you do when the unthinkable happens. These are characters who are learning to redefine and reinvent their own paths.”

Izzy, too, is trying to get her stuff together, said Mackie, who is married to area poet Michael Agee, a native of Hamilton and past winner of the Riverbank Poetry Slam.

“She flies by the seat of her pants,” she said “She doesn’t like confrontation and doesn’t like it when things get too heated, but she will put her claws out when she’s backed into a corner. She says what she means and although she tries not to hurt anyone, she will speak the truth. I think that’s her function in the play.”

Even though it’s a play with death at the core, it’s not totally depressing, she said.

“There are moments of hilarity and moments of hope,” she said. “I don’t think you’ll leave thinking you need a support group, but that life is going to be OK.”
 

 how to go
WHAT: “Rabbit Hole” by David Lindsay-Abaire
WHERE: Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, 1127 Vine St., Cincinnati
WHEN: Sept. 12-30
COST: $27-$35 adults; $16 children
MORE INFO: (513) 421-3555; www.cincyetc.com