Befuddled lovers and wedding day antics make for ‘A Perfect Wedding’

BOWLING GREEN, O.— The welcome and unwelcome guests at a wedding set in a mystical forest are at the heart of “A Perfect Wedding,” by playwright Charles Mee. Their humorous antics carry the play, the second production of the season for Bowling Green State University’s Department of Theatre and Film.

Directed by Sara Chambers, lecturer in theatre and film, “A Perfect Wedding” was inspired by widely divergent texts on the topic of love and marriage.

“The topics include Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ Soap Opera Digest, the writings of Gottfried von Strassburg, Li Yu, Kenneth V. Iverson, Bill Neal, Laura Kipnis and the Internet,” said Chambers.

Multiculturalism abounds in the play. A groom on the brink of his wedding dashes off into a forest, followed by the bride and the wedding party. There, love is found in many guises: Meridee, the bride (played by Mackenzie Baumhower), with her bridesmaid Ariel (Micala Behrens); Meridee's sister Tessa (Bessie Smith) with the escapist groom Amadou (Nate Zibkowski); and one of the four male wedding planners with another. To top off the craziness, between these escapades and the three weddings that climax the play is a funeral.

Chicago’s Windy City Times said, “‘A Perfect Wedding’ fits the bill for adventurous audiences looking for something different. This unconventional piece is also timely since it is largely friendly—if slightly ambivalent—toward the message that all kinds of people should be allowed to form long-lasting marriages, including gays and lesbians.”

“I hope that our audiences are both challenged and delighted by Mee’s view of the world presented in ‘A Perfect Wedding’ and are moved by his ultimate assertion that people long for a connection with one another,” Chambers said.

This play involves mature themes and is not suitable for children.

“A Perfect Wedding” opens at 8 p.m. on Nov.19.  Additional performances are at 8 p.m. on Nov. 20 and 21, as well as 2 p.m. on Nov. 21 and 22 in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre in the Wolfe Center for the Arts. Advance-purchase seats are $15 for adults and $5 for students. All tickets are $20 the day of the performance.  To purchase tickets, visit bgsu.edu/arts or call the box office at 419-372-8171.