On Dec. 5, 6 and 7, the NHTI “Stage Lynx” Drama Club will present Reckless, a dark comedy by Craig Lucas. The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free for NHTI students, $10 for all others.
Reckless is a sardonic commentary on such commonplace features of modern life as broken families, homelessness, therapy and reality TV. The lead character, Rachel – a young mother who is wide-eyed, nervous, gentle and much too trusting – is forced to flee for her life one Christmas Eve when her husband confesses he has hired a hit man to kill her.
Out in the cold, cruel world, Rachel encounters a series of bizarre characters and undergoes a number of unlikely experiences. She is taken in by Lloyd, a kindly man with a dark secret, and his wife, Pooty, a paraplegic woman who also pretends to be deaf and dumb. She wins a small fortune on a TV game show, and is analyzed by a half dozen different therapists (all played by the same actor) employing wildly different techniques. Her absurdist adventures take her to the brink of insanity before she finds her true sense of self.
The show is a tour-de-farce for Naomi Glee Nelson of Grafton, playing Rachel, who appears in every one of the show’s 28 scenes. She is ably supported by Stage Lynx veteran Cory Schofield as Lloyd. The rest of the cast all have great fun playing multiple roles in this kaleidoscopic script. The show is directed by Jim Webber.
