Time to go out and see a play. None Too Fragile theater group makes it pretty hard not to. First off, you can get in by paying what you can, but no more than $20. You get to see really good local actors in some seriously scripted drama. And, you can take a drink in with you from the pub next door and watch the performance like an intelligent adult.

The real reason, though, is the quality of productions that this small black box theater group puts on, like the current production of Adam Szymkowicz’s “Nerve.”

Adam Szymkowicz’s “Nerve.” Photo courtesy of None Too Fragile

The action centers on the notion of online dating and hook ups, with all the attendant worries and risks that go along with them. What we see is a guy, Elliott (played by Brian Kenneth Armour) and a young woman, Susan (played by Kelly Strand) getting together for the first time in a bar. Without giving away too much (the best part is watching them reveal themselves and their quirks, issues, problems, troubled dating pasts, and more and more), it’s ok to say that this dark comedy pretty much satisfies everybody’s worst nightmare of what a first date can be – in a humorous, troubling way.

Both characters are desperate. Elliott wants to be in a relationship – badly. Susan wants to break through the seemingly never-ending psychodrama that is crippling her life.

Kelly Strand runs the extreme emotional range that grips the character of Susan. Looking like an uptight, frumpy, geeky young woman, Strand plumbs the anguishing emotional life of Susan through highly expressive, strained-looking eyes, physical tenseness, then juxtaposes all of that with private moments where she dances out her anxieties (and there are many) with abandon.

Brian Kenneth Armour’s Elliott is both tender and tough, gentle and threatening, and similar contradictions, which the actor plays with great understatement – a technique that really shapes the dimensions of the character for the audience.

Kelly Strand, Brian Kenneth Armour in “Nerve.” Photo courtesy of None Too Fragile

I’m probably wrong, but the structure of the narrative seems to take its shape from the characters’ bathroom breaks (much like first-time online daters no doubt do as a means to collect themselves during a stressful time). Each time one leaves, we get to see the one who stayed behind reveal some more inner stress. Each time the one comes back, they both move forward in their growing closeness. It’s an interesting device. Or just maybe it’s the next bottle of beer they keep bringing that loosens them up.

Adam Szymkowicz’s “Nerve” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays and Mondays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays through September 28 at None Too Fragile Theater, 1841 Merriman Rd. 330-671-4563l. www.nonetoofragile.com. Tickers ($20 or pay as you can).