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You may now anger the bride

By Barbara L. Fredricksen and Arts, Entertainment editor
In print: Friday, May 9, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT [BRENDAN FITTERER | Times] One of the last straws for the bride-to-be (played by Lisa White) comes when the groom invites his obnoxious best friend (Nick Boucher) to not only be a part of the wedding but to stay at her home.

Just in time for wedding season, the drama students at River Ridge High School are doing the comedy Nuptials, a fresh look at the time-honored tradition of turning a sweet and simple wedding ceremony into a family-splitting spectacle.

"This is an area premiere," said Diana Rogers, a former Broadway performer now in charge of the drama department at River Ridge.

"I had the opportunity to do the professional premiere at Flat Rock Playhouse some years ago," she said, a reference to the 56-year-old professional State Theatre of North Carolina. "The show was a hit with the audience, and I predict this show will become a staple of theaters here in Florida."

In it, childhood sweethearts Caroline Gordon (Lisa White) and Mark Sinclair (Brandon Mauro, Danny in Grease; Banjo in The Man Who Came to Dinner) are to be married in just a few days. Caroline's mom, Barbara Gordon (Emily Kauffman) is determined that her daughter's wedding is the biggest and best ever seen in their small Southern town.

But things seems to go wrong at every turn. The flowers are the wrong color. The dress is the wrong color. Mrs. Carpenter, the caterer (Janae Lafleur), doesn't know what she's doing; Jeanette Stoval, the wedding planner (Lexi Balestrieri, Mrs. Stanley in Man/Dinner), is a snob; and Richard, the florist (Brandon Tyson Long), is flamboyantly melodramatic. And Dr. Lawing, the minister (Tyler Lane), is a traditionalist who won't stand for any tinkering with what the couple consider outdated wedding vows.

Mark's best man, Jerry (Nick Boucher, Kenickie in Grease), is obnoxious, and Caroline's sister Kitty (Meaghan Jameson, Rizzo in Grease) decides at the last minute she doesn't want to be in the wedding.

As things crumble, everyone tells Caroline that this really isn't her wedding; the wedding belongs to everyone involved.

That's the last straw. Caroline has come to a point where, if everyone wants a piece of the wedding, she'll let them have it all

— without her.

Playwright Judy Simpson Cook won the 1989 Thompson Theatre Award from North Carolina State University for Nuptials, one of nine full-length plays she has written, as well as several one-act and one-woman shows. She herself is an actor and has appeared on stage and in several movies and on television.

The River Ridge troupe is going all out to make Nuptials feel like an actual experience for everyone.

"We will be serving wedding cake to our guests at the 'reception' as they leave," Ms. Rogers said.