MCC theater group to stage dark comedy

The Black Box Theatre at McHenry County College will present the zany, dark comedy "Reckless" by Craig Lucas and directed by Dan Scott. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays, March 5-21 in the Black Box Theatre, Room D167, 8900 Route 14, Crystal Lake.

"Reckless" is directed by Dan Scott of Des Plaines and produced by Jay Geller of Kildeer, with set design by Paul Bayer of Woodstock, lighting design by Rick Amundsen of Woodstock, costume design by Benjamin Vargas of Addison, technical director Kent Wilson of Lake in the Hills and stage manager Ashley Brown of Cary. The cast includes: Julie Mussared of Richmond, Kyle D. Phillips and Savie Tatarinowicz, all of Lake in the Hills; Josh Jacobson and Jessica LoBue, both of McHenry; and Danny Sisto, Trace Gamache, Brendan Gaughan, R. Sean McCord, and Emily Conley, all of Crystal Lake.

In "Reckless," it is Christmas Eve and Rachel is informed by her guilty husband that he has hired a hitman to kill her, and she must flee for her life - which she does by scrambling out the kitchen window and into the snowy night. She meets and joins up with Lloyd Bophtelophti, a true "original" who has changed his name to avoid alimony payments and who now lives with a paraplegic named Pootie (who also pretends to be deaf in order to get double disability).

Rachel then wins $100,000 on a TV game show and begins a series of picaresque escapades involving numerous psychiatrists and, eventually, an ill-fated reunion with her husband. In the end, Rachel becomes a therapist herself, treating her own child (who fails to recognize her) and is led more and more to ponder whether the modern world might not be a vast conspiracy designed to systematically undermine her own increasingly shaky sanity.

Tickets are $7 for students, faculty/staff, seniors and alumni and $14 for general public. For reservations, contact Jay Geller at (815) 455-8746 or jgeller@mchenry.edu.