REVIEW: “At The Wedding” at Sand Lake Center for the Arts
“At The Wedding” makes its Capital Region debut during Pride Month and will be a part of the first ever Capital Region Festival of Theatre (CRFT).
AVERILL PARK - Harbinger Theatre began its fourth season with the Capital Region premiere of Bryna Turner’s production of “At The Wedding”, Friday, June 6, at Sand Lake Center for the Arts (SLCA). The play, directed by Chris Foster and starring Maghen Ryan-Adair as the protagonist and lesbian wedding crasher, Carlo, centers around Carlo, who goes through the emotions of grief, anger, and eventually, acceptance over her ex-partner, Eva (played by Alexia Halsey) marrying a man in northern California.
Artistic Director and Harbinger founder, Patrick White, said that the reason why he wanted to premiere “At The Wedding” to theatregoers was that the play “checks all our boxes.”
“(“At The Wedding”), it’s a contemporary play that many people can relate to, especially young people.” White said. “It’s exceptionally funny, we could cast it well and it’s about something.”
About “At The Wedding”
“At The Wedding” was written by Brooklyn, NY playwright, Bryna Turner. The play, developed in part by TheatreSquared, a regional professional theatre located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, received the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation’s Theatre Visions Award, became a NY Times Critic’s Pick, and was featured in the NYT Best of 2022 “Unforgettable Theatrical Moments” category.
“At The Wedding” made its off-Broadway, official premiere at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater March 21, 2022. The comedy-drama based play centers its storyline around Carlo, who did not RSVP to her ex-girlfriend’s wedding, attends her ex’s wedding ceremony and wedding reception. Carlo, who’s having difficulty moving on from her ex, let alone not accepting at first, the fact that her ex is happily married to a man, meets up with a group of characters who demonstrate to Carlo how she should mend her lonely heart and help her understand where love and connection should be.
“At The Wedding” Review
“At The Wedding” is entertaining, funny, and suspenseful in all of the right parts. Like Carlo, the viewers of “At The Wedding” become the unexpected, yet delightful guests who get a front-seat look into a wedding that at one moment, could become a dumpster fire, but also become heartfelt and sweet at the same time.
Maghen Ryan-Adair portraying Carlo in “At The Wedding” on the Sand Lake Center for the Arts’ stage, Averill Park, NY. Photo Credit: Jason Zuppardi, Best Frame Forward.
Maghen Ryan-Adair’s portrayal of Carlo is fantastic and her ability to showcase Carlo in her comedic highs (ex. When Carlo steals the hors d'oeuvres off the table to place in her jacket pocket in front of Carly (played by Jennifer Schburr)) and her dramatic lows and selfishness over wanting to be with someone that she can’t have anymore (When Carlo sits alone feeling sad and upset that she hurt Eva’s feelings, even after Carlo attempts to take Eva away from her new husband to remain with Carlo.).
Ryan-Adair, while portraying the crazy, calculated, and at times, sneaky Carlo, helps the audience feel sympathetic for her character over the duration of the play through her convincing portrayal of Carlo. Throughout the play, the audience felt connected to Carlo and her journey to find closure with her ex-girlfriend that she needed in order to mend her broken, confused, and hurt heart.
Watching the play, the viewers want Carlo to find her own happy ending and take off the figurative weight that was weighing in her soul, as do the other supporting characters, Eli (played by Ben Amey), Maria (played by Amy Hausknecht), Carly, and even Leigh (Rachel Stewart), Eli’s girlfriend. Both the viewer and characters want Carlo to have the best or perhaps, the worst time at this wedding, but also want what’s best for her and for Eva in the end, even when they patch things up during their “Last Dance”.
“You needed to have the humor so you could have the high highs and the low lows, and I worked with Maghen a lot to try and not make her just a clown and not just an abrasive person, but also somebody that we could root for and care for that could guide us through the story.” Foster said. “In the end, when she gets rid of the albatross, we could feel something for her.”
Being in love can make an individual do crazy things in their life, whether it’s crashing a wedding, helping a mother get drunk on alcohol over coping with their own love issues with a partner, or perhaps, kissing a guy’s girlfriend outside the wedding venue, and the woman happens to be a romantic swinger.
“At The Wedding” is a relatable play for everyone and anyone who’s experienced heartache and needing help to move on from the one that they’re still holding on to love from their past. Time heals all wounds, and it takes time to process loss, heal the heart, and if needed, reconcile and move away from the hurt and go into a positive, freeing mindset that’s good for the soul and conscience.
The After-Play Talk
What was also interesting with “At The Wedding” was the talk back that the entire cast and crew had with the audience. Patrick White was the moderator of the group discussion, and audience members had the opportunity to ask the director, lighting and stage crew, and the cast questions pertaining to the play.
Alexia Halsey, Jennifer Schnurr, Adam Sauter (who played Victor, the wedding bartender), and Rachel Stewart were all making their Harbinger debut in “At The Wedding”. Ryan-Adair previously performed in Harbinger’s award-winning performance of “Andy and the Orphans”, Hausknecht performed in Harbinger’s first-ever show, “The Christians”, and Amey previously performed in “The Squirrels” and “Maggie May” last year.
None of the actors who performed in “At The Wedding” had ever heard of the production until they decided to audition for their roles. Stewart wanted to audition for the play just “for fun” while Sauter auditioned “for the hell of it.”
When Schnurr read the play, she loved it. Part of what drew her to her character, Carly, personally, was when the characters were drinking alcohol. Currently, Schnurr is four and a half years sober from alcohol.
“When you talk about a dumpster fire at a wedding, not my own wedding, but when I was still drinking, I had experiences where I had too much to drink at a wedding, it doesn’t go as planned as you hope it does, so following Carlo’s story was a little bit relatable for me in a sense.” Schnurr said.
Several cast members who took White’s acting class, even rehearsed a scene from “At The Wedding”, and funnily enough, White said, they were cast.
“It doesn’t always work that way, I think this is the only time it has.” White said. “Ten Harbinger plays started out as a scene in my acting class; like we just worked on it, but this one happily worked out.”
In 2023, Foster and White watched “At The Wedding” at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Originally the couple was supposed to watch the play pre-pandemic times; however, the pandemic hit and then “At The Wedding” was delayed by a year.
Foster and White found the play to be great, and together, they brought the play to the Harbinger play reading committee to have them read it. Both the committee and Foster and White thought it was a very great play and thought it had great characters.
In 2023, Harbinger applied to obtain the rights for “At The Wedding”. After one year, Harbinger obtained the rights to put on the play, and have it performed at SLCA.
“We love SLCA and I’ve done many shows here with Harbinger and directing their Circle Theatre Players.” White said. “Harbinger doesn’t have a home theater or it has many homes and Sand Lake is one we love. We hope it’s mutually and equally beneficial.”
Foster and White love SLCA’s building and the venue’s audiences and Harbinger has had success with the venue for their productions of “Dig”, “The Squirrels”, and now, “At The Wedding”.
What happens next?
“At The Wedding” will continue its final week of showings this week, starting Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, June 15, 2:30 p.m. The play will be held during the week during which the inaugural Capital Region Festival of Theatre (CRFT) will be taking place throughout Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Washington Counties.
The Official Capital Region Festival of Theatre events listing. Sand Lake Center for the Arts (SLCA) will be one of several locations to put on events during the four-day festival. Poster Credit: Siobhan Shea
CRFT is a four-day, region-wide, eight venue celebration of all things theater in Albany and its surrounding cities, towns, and hamlets. The festival, held from June 12-June 15, will feature one acts, stand ups, workshops, panel discussions, and other activities.
In addition to “At The Wedding”, SLCA will host a Senior Day Friday, June 13, 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. SLCA will have free programming for Seniors by Seniors (55 years-old and up) in the morning, and an afternoon of performances for all ages to enjoy.
Tickets for “At The Wedding” cost $22 for adults and $12 for students. Tickets for “At The Wedding” can be purchased online on SLCA’s website at www.slca-ctp.org. The CRFT activities that will be held at SLCA are free. For additional information on CRFT and view the festival schedule can go online to www.crftinc.org.
