For many, the holidays are a time for Christmas caroling and “A Christmas Carol”-ing. Snuggling up by the fire for an annual family screening of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
But Christmas isn’t always a Kodak moment for everyone. Real-world traumas don’t stop for eggnog and snapshots. For some, Christmas can be a big ol’ buzzkill.
Like when Julia Motyka spent her 18th Christmas in the hospital emergency room. No, not with ignorance or want . . . with mono; her mouth so swollen she could barely breathe.
Or when a teenage Jeff Bender left his parakeet with his grandparents while his family went on a holiday trip.
“My grandmother later told me that we weren’t half a block away before the parakeet escaped its cage, flew straight up into the ceiling fan and exploded in a cloud of feathers,” he said.
Motyka and Bender are actors in the Denver Center Theatre Company’s “Reckless,” a fractured black comedy by Craig Lucas that, in a world overpopulated with wonderful lives and reformed Scrooges and white Christmases, some just might seek out like an antidote.
“Reckless” opens on a snowy Christmas Eve with hubby Tom announcing that, instead of buying his wife, say, a puppy, he has hired a hit man to kill her.
Talk about a buzzkill!
” ‘Reckless’ is for anyone who’s ever had a crappy Christmas — and lived to tell the tale,” says Motyka, who plays the wife who goes on a holiday lam. It’s a surreal, snowy escape that covers 50 states, during which she comes to think the modern world is a conspiracy designed to undermine her sanity.
On a more serious note, Motyka says, ” ‘Reckless’ is essentially a story of triumph and transformation in the face of crazy adversity, which makes it a story for anyone who’s ever landed flat on their face and made the brave choice to get back up and change their life in order to find out, more truly, who they really are.”
Yeah, yeah, but back to the holiday jeer:
Timothy McCracken was 5 and just about to hit the sack on Christmas Eve to sleep, perchance to dream about sugar plums and Santa’s reindeer and all that rot, “when my parents find a big ol’ tick burrowed in the back of my neck,” he said.
They tried squeezing, sucking, alcohol — nothing was working. Enter Grandpa with a lit cigarette. “He begins to singe the back of my neck to, in essence, ‘smoke him out,’ ” McCracken said.
But it worked. Sweet dreams, singed-flesh boy.
We asked the “Reckless” cast and creative team to surmise who the audience might be for “Reckless,” at a time of year when stages are overrun with traditional holiday classics.
Most succinctly put, responded female understudy Barbra Andrews: ” ‘Reckless’ is for anyone who can quote ‘Christmas Vacation.’ ” One line, in particular, that we can’t re-quote here. Here’s one that we can: “It’s not going in the yard, Russ. It’s going in the living room!”
Director Scott Schwartz, son of legendary composer Stephen Schwartz, previously directed the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s silly-willy “A Servant of Two Masters” in Boulder in 2007. He says “Reckless” is for anyone who wants to enjoy the holidays without the saccharine. And to laugh their butts off.
Other responses from the team:
Bender, who plays Lloyd: ” ‘Reckless’ is for the people who have had their fill of cooking, decorating, family, endless shopping and everything else the holidays bring. It gives them a chance to breathe, realize that life could be worse and say to themselves, ‘At least I’ve got it better than these characters!’ “
Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, who plays Roy: ” ‘Reckless’ is for the Scrooge in all of us with a sick sense of humor . . . and the idea that home is where the heart is.”
Gabra Zackman, who plays an assortment of doctors: ” ‘Reckless is for all the people who want to scream, punch, cry and laugh through the holidays, but can’t — and all the people we admire who do.”
Clare Henkel, costume designer: ” ‘Reckless’ is for those who enjoy ‘South Park,’ or just have a semi-twisted sense of humor. However the truthfulness, the honesty of the writing and of the cast, will bring tears to your eyes.”
And from McCracken, the understudy for all the male roles: ” ‘Reckless’ is for everyone. It is a touching and funny story with dark elements that can allow one to laugh, cry and remember the importance of family and relationships, as our lives lead recklessly through each hour, day, year . . .”
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Reckless”
Black comedy. Presented by the Denver Center Theatre Company at the Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. Written by Craig Lucas. Directed by Scott Schwartz. Starring Julia Motyka, Jeffrey M. Bender, Leslie O’Carroll and Kathy Brady. Through Dec. 18. 2 hours. 6:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays. $18-$57. 303-893-4100 (800-641-1222 outside Denver) or
