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2008-02-21  TOP STORIES | 'Runaway Bride' musical to take stage in Duluth
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| | by Scott Sowers | |  |
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| | | (SCOTT SOWERS/www.gwinnettherald.com) (click for larger version) | |
March 06, 2008
DULUTH -- Actors and crew scurry about. A rooster crows over the loudspeakers.
"Ok! We're going to work on Day Eight now!" shouts director Deborah Childs as she gets her cast ready to assume their places.
This is a typical day on the set of "The Runaway Bride," the Red Clay Theater's latest production and first entirely original production. The musical, written by Childs and Beverly Cantwell, shows what it was like to be in Duluth when the national headline-making story of the disappearance of Jennifer Wilbanks hit Duluth in 2005.
The Duluth resident allegedly got cold feet before her wedding and took off for Las Vegas, leading local residents and law enforcement officials to begin a massive manhunt for her whereabouts. To this day, when you mention the Runaway Bride saga in Duluth, everyone has an opinion, be it of relief or suppressed anger.
Because this episode elicits a variety of responses still from the townspeople, Red Clay Theater managing partner Shelly Howard thought that there would be no better way to memorialize it than with a theater production.
"This play is a celebration of the people of Duluth's efforts during the whole event," said Howard. "Theater is all about reproducing life on stage and it is the rare case of a missing person gone good. It presents a real tongue and cheek look at how the media portrayed the whole event."
Truly this was a media circus to the highest magnitude. Former mayor Shirley Lasseter said that she would speak to reporters from all over the world from dawn until 10 p.m. telling them about the story. Because it turned out to be a hoax, a lot of people in Duluth harbor ill feelings about it all.
"But no matter how you feel about the event itself, it is my hope that everyone leaves the theater with a smile on their face," said Howard.
Howard first began laying out the groundwork for the musical a year and a half ago. She commissioned Cantwell to begin writing a script, and once they had taken it as far as they could, Howard approached Childs, a veteran of the stage. Childs had previously worked for the Red Clay as the lead role of Daisy Werthan in "Driving Miss Daisy" which ran last fall.
"The script is always evolving," said Childs. "Through the run of the show I might change the script around as people come up to me and share their experiences with the incident. I try and use specific stories that people have shared with me.
"If something is very funny or poignant it might find its way in."
Although some specific events will be referenced, the cast members will not have specific names, rather generic titles like "the mayor," "grocery store shopper" or "man getting interviewed on TV." The ensemble cast of 20 will each employee a variety of roles throughout the show.
"The hardest part of this is walking offstage as one person and then coming back on 30 seconds later as another," said Gregory LoCurto, who plays the father of the bride and a grocery store shopper, among other roles.
Although the bride and groom are central to why this event even took place, their role in the play will be minimal at best. Howard said that this play is not about them but that Duluth is the star of the show.
Production has been underway since Feb. 11 for the March 13 opening night. According to Howard and Childs, the cast has already meshed very well but still needs work before the curtain goes up on the first performance.
In addition to having a non-traditional cast for the show, the set will also be kept at a minimum since it the scenes are always changing. A set of larger props will be key to the plot which Howard and Child refused to reveal before the first performance.
"It's been really fun working on the set," said Jessica Thompson, whose roles include the mayor and the mother of the bride. "This reminds me of one of those old British drawing room farces where everyone is running in and out of doors and coming out as a new character."
Because everyone is running about changing roles, Childs devised a detailed cheat sheet to mark where everyone is supposed to be at all times. Because of her background as a computer programmer, she said that she really enjoys making up spreadsheets for things like this.
"I even took out a chessboard and put the cast's initials on the different pieces so I could move them around to see where they need to be," she said.
All is in the hope that everything will be in its right place on opening night.
The show opens March 13 and runs to April 20 with performances every Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale for $22 general admission, $15 student and $18 senior citizens and can be purchased via the box office by calling 770-622-1777.
- www.northfulton.com
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