Photo by Matthew Tippins
Victor (Steven Guez) and Eli (Timothy Mark Davis) try to keep a wedding cake upright in Island City Stage’s triumphant production of At the Wedding.
By AARON KRAUSE
Want a neat, perfect wedding? You won’t find one in Bryna Turner’s funny, energizing, and emotionally sharp comedy, At the Wedding.
For starters, someone who maybe shouldn’t be at the affair is very much present — Carlo, the bride’s ex, who crashes her former partner’s wedding, possibly out of spite. Also, did I spot hay or straw among the more wedding-appropriate decorations like colorful flower arrangements and white cloths?
This present-day fictional wedding — one that may raise an eyebrow — continues through Sept. 24 in Island City Stage’s (ICS) intimate black box theater in Wilton Manors. This South Florida premiere production runs about 75 breezy minutes with no intermission.
ICS, an award-winning professional theater company with a focus on LGBTQ+ community, is closing out its 13th season with a vibrant and believable professional staging of At the Wedding. Under Artistic Director Andy Rogow’s dynamic direction, the production features a talented South Florida cast delivering nuanced performances that consistently entertain.
Undoubtedly, you’ll want to dance along during the celebratory transitions between scenes. During these moments, disco-style lights rotate around the theater, invigorating music fills the space, and cast members show off their nifty moves. Including these upbeat transitions is a smart move by Rogow — they remind us that what’s happening onstage is a celebration. But they also contrast meaningfully with Carlo’s internal chaos.
Carlo may look like she’s celebrating with everyone else, but deep down, she may be seething. After all, the bride is her ex-wife or girlfriend, now marrying another man (an offstage, unnamed character we never see or hear). Carlo shows real nerve from the outset. Early on, she addresses the children’s table about how they’ll fall in love later in life — and how that love will eventually crush their hearts.
She’s hardly done for the evening after that monologue. Over drinks, Carlo speaks to a variety of invited guests (surprisingly, the bride invited her — and Carlo didn’t RSVP). Throughout the night, she ricochets between dry wit, simmering resentment, and quiet vulnerability. She’s not just attending the wedding; she’s trying to make sense of what this loss says about her — and maybe punish those involved along the way.
When you think about a character like Carlo, you might picture someone who barges into the wedding like an out-of-control bulldozer — crimson-faced, body taut with rage, ready to attack like a wild, starving animal. Now, erase that image.
That’s not how Hannah M. Benitez portrays Carlo. Instead, she creates a character with a compelling blend of wit, charm, self-assurance, and finely tuned comic timing. She lands every line with crisp precision. This long dark-haired, brightly smiling young woman moves through the wedding with a brave face and disarming ease, as though Carlo is doing just fine.
But Benitez knows exactly when to let the cracks show. Her physical choices — placing a hand over her head, covering her face as though crying — give us glimpses of the pain Carlo works so hard to hide. That balance between sharp humor and aching vulnerability is what makes both the performance and the play resonate so strongly. We may see ourselves, or someone we know all too well, in Benitez’s Carlo. We may wonder how often we don a “disguise” to mask how we truly feel.
Benitez’s nuanced portrayal isn’t the only performance that lingers. Timothy Mark Davis, blonde-haired and bright-eyed, brings wide-eyed enthusiasm, nerves, and earnest charm to Eli, an English teacher who plans to propose to his fiancé at Eva’s wedding. Eli is a passionate, somewhat green young man whom Carlo tries to influence. At one point, she grabs his head and holds it still while bluntly warning him not to propose at this wedding. Davis’s nervous, optimistic energy adds a hopeful counterpoint to the play’s more biting moments, grounding the story in real feeling.
Just as Eli seems hopeful, so does the bride. Sheena O. Murray brings a spirited warmth to Eva, imbuing her with the sense of someone whose life is firmly on an upward path. With a gentle smile and a calm, confident tone, Murray’s Eva feels like someone many of us aspire to be. The chemistry between Eva and Carlo is refreshingly free of overt hostility; they come across as old friends who still understand each other. The tension only surfaces later, when Carlo tries to persuade Eva that marrying the offstage groom may not be the life she truly wants.
It might have added depth to include flashbacks to Carlo and Eva’s past relationship — allowing us to glimpse what they shared, and what they lost.
During the affair, Carlo also encounters wedding guest Carley, who is visibly disappointed that the couple didn’t choose her as maid of honor. With blonde hair and red lipstick, Hannah Haley’s Carley might initially evoke Glinda from Wicked — but Haley plays her more like Amber Von Tussle from Hairspray, all sharp edges and entitlement. Her peevish, direct energy adds tension and bite to the wedding dynamics.
This colorful crowd also includes Maria — another character who may look cheerful but is far from it. Her ex-husband is present with a new woman, her boyfriend is sick, and she’s attending alone. She turns to alcohol and eventually gets drunk. Playing a convincing drunk is no easy feat, but Elizabeth Price nails it. She pretends to be unsteady without losing control of her performance. Her expressive voice and face work in tandem, creating a character who’s both comic and deeply human.
The supporting cast includes Sandi Stock as Leigh, who becomes fond of Carlo. Their brief conspiratorial moment — imagining what they’d do if they ran off together — is sweetly rebellious.
Steven Guez, a newcomer to Island City Stage, brings comic charm to flamboyant server Victor. His balancing act with a towering wedding cake is both funny and suspenseful. It mirrors the emotional balancing act many characters are struggling to maintain.
After all, an event like a wedding can feel like balancing that giant cake. You’re on edge, trying to maintain a sense of calm while everything around you — or inside you — teeters dangerously. On this night, Carlo is trying to preserve what remains (if anything) of her connection with Eva.
Fortunately, At the Wedding is part of a welcome trend in LGBTQ+ theater — stories that go beyond coming out or surviving prejudice. Carlo, a lesbian, is living fully and vividly in a world where her queerness is taken as given. What she’s navigating isn’t identity — it’s heartbreak, something we all know.
ICS’s production unfolds on a spacious set that Ardean Landhuis designs neatly, with mostly appropriate detail. But when you spy what resembles hay or straw in the space, you can’t help but wonder whether we’re in a barn as well as a modern wedding hall.
Landhuis also designed the lighting, which is mostly bright and realistic, befitting a happy occasion. During transitions between scenes, the lights move in sync with the performers. Specifically, colored lights rotate throughout the theater, adding extra energy and intensity.
Emil White’s costume design fittingly includes attractive formal wear, while David Hart’s sound design is crisp and clear. The transition music is especially well-matched to the actors’ energy.
Turner wrote At the Wedding, which received accolades during its run in New York, as a series of short scenes brimming with wit and lively language. While some jokes land better than others (Carlo calling Carley “Marley” gets easy laughs), the tone is generally light. Turner’s humor causes us to lower our guard — making us more receptive to the show’s deeper themes.
While At the Wedding is humorous, it’s also thought-provoking — especially when Eli enthusiastically tells an allegorical story about an albatross. You could say these characters are carrying their own albatrosses, pretending not to notice the weight until it becomes too heavy to bear.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Island City Stage’s South Florida premiere production of At the Wedding, by Bryna Turner
WHEN: Through Sept. 14. Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday. Women’s Night at the Theatre is Sept. 7.
WHERE: Island City Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors.
TICKETS: Prices start at $43. Call (954) 928-9800 or visit www.islandcitystage.org.
