Four thousand eight hundred pounds of snow set the stage for a dark comedy play that reiterated the fact that in life, anything can happen.
We are living in an extraordinarily scary time in the world
said Director Shelley Delaney. Anything can happen the moment you step off the curb.
Craig Lucas' play Reckless performed in the Forum Theater by seven Ohio University theater students playing 21 parts, drew laughter and thought-provoking silence from the audience.
'Reckless' is important for our time because life can get out of control and this play shows there is hope said lead actress Libby Ewing, an Ohio University senior.
Delaney said the audience should start out laughing, and by the end of the play be able to sit down with a cup of coffee and say, Wow
that play really had an affect on me.
Ewing, who played Rachel, stayed onstage the entire time. The twenty-nine-scene play's set used a turntable to change from scene to scene.
The thousands of pounds of fake snow on stage made the operating metaphor that the world is a snow globe. At the beginning of the play, the snow evoked feelings of safety and security, and by the end it is shaken up, said Delaney.
The life of the lead character, Rachel, twists and turns from the beginning, after she discovers one Christmas Eve her husband put a contract on her life. After running away from her husband Tom and her past, she is welcomed into the home of an ex-alcoholic who ran over and killed his child with a snow blower, a woman pretending to be deaf and a paraplegic.
The play spans the time of 14 years, revolving around each Christmas season. Life only goes down hill for Rachel with funny events along the way.
The generation of college students now are responding really well to black comedy
which is what 'Reckless' is
Delaney said.
Junior Aubrey Belmont thought the acting was hilarious. The actors played many parts, but they could still be distinguished, she said, because so much emotion was put into each individual character.
Wild, exhilarating and challenging are words Ewing uses to describe her experience playing Rachel. The most challenging aspect of the role was portraying the full journey of the character from point A to point B, Ewing said.
Ewing wants audience members attending Reckless to have a good time, laugh and come out with a broader aspect of life about why things happen, and how much control people really have.
Reckless will run at 8 tonight and Saturday in the Forum Theater in the Radio-Television Building.
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