Gym, tan, laundry, arcade

Arcade situation.

More adventures in WTF'ery at Crestwood Court.

Mannequin orgy

Capacity: six naked mannequins

Couldn't resist photographing this scene outside the fitting rooms at the Gap at Crestwood Court. If you count these guys, there were 10 people in the mall that day.

Like, a food emergency?

Food-court emergency

I don't understand how Crestwood Court stays afloat. I only go for its Gap, which is always dead but with many discounts.

Workers pack the P-D with protective Styrofoam

Looking east at the Post-Dispatch at 900 N. Tucker Blvd.
The top of the black portion of the building is street level.

Looking north from the remaining portion of North Tucker Boulevard.
In the distance, trucks are hauling in more Styrofoam blocks. 

I stood outside watching the Tucker Boulevard construction for a long time today. These Styrofoam blocks are going in because the Post-Dispatch's basement walls weren't built to withstand the weight of dirt. Dirt and street will go on top. Fascinating.

Theater review: NonProphets' 'Reckless' is a no-frills holiday treat

Christmas has arrived early, and we owe the NonProphet Theater Company (and maybe even Santa) a nice thank-you card for giving us "Reckless," which closes the company's 2010 season on a happily sardonic note.

The dark comedy by Craig Lucas ("The Light in the Piazza," "Prelude to a Kiss") plays out over 20 years, beginning one snowy Christmas Eve when Tom (played by Tom Lehmann) confesses to his wife, Rachel (Michelle Hand), that he's hired a hit man to kill her.

Rachel flees into the darkness, still wearing her nightgown and slippers, and begins a road to self-discovery and eventual happiness.

While "Reckless" isn't exactly a show about Christmas, the holiday serves as a touchstone to mark the progression of time and highs and lows in Rachel's life.

Hand — full of energy and possessing a crystal-clear understanding of the character — delivers a superb Rachel. Her performance is compelling to the point where we find ourselves sharing many of the emotions Rachel experiences. (Also, Hand is adorable.)

Ben Ritchie displays good range as Lloyd, a soft-spoken physical therapist, and Katie Donnelly is his wife, Pooty, a paraplegic mute. The two adopt Rachel into their family, and, as she soon learns, the couple is hiding more than a few secrets.

The cast also includes, playing multiple roles, Raynard Fox, Elizabeth Graveman and Theresa Masters (who expertly portrays six different therapists).

The characters in "Reckless" seem to exist in a world with no authority figures. And we aren't even sure why Tom decided to have Rachel killed — the domino that sets the whole thing into motion. The show is dominated by so many plot twists that her attempted murder turns out to not be crucial information anyway.

NonProphet is a company known for its no-frills style, and director Robert Mitchell doesn't stray from that method with "Reckless." At times — a scene where an actor holds a telephone and wears a sign reading "I am a phone booth," for instance — the production feels almost like a skit. The scenery and props are adequate, if a little shabby, but the actors are what matter here.

By Gabe Hartwig • ©2010 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, STLtoday.com • Published 12.08.10

Looking like Christmas

After a week of shlepping boxes up from the basement, moving furniture around and replacing nonworking lights, the annual Holiday Masterpiece is complete. Ta-da.

I know what someone is getting for Christmas