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Share the humor and heartbreak in this South Florida premiere of love, loss and redemption; Tickets are on sale now
You are cordially invited to the best day of someone else’s life… but what if it’s also the worst day of yours? Follow Carlo as she navigates the highs and lows of attending her ex’s wedding while dealing with her own heartbreak in Island City Stage’s South Florida premiere of At the Weddingby Bryna Turner, running August 21 – September 21. Tickets are on sale now.
“As with real weddings. At the Wedding is perfect for summer. It’s a biting comedy but also has a lot of heart and hope,” said Andy Rogow, artistic director of Island City Stage and the show’s director. “One of the things I love about this play is that it truly connects with anyone who has had heartbreak in their life or watched an ‘ex’ marry someone else. Audiences will also recognize all of the guests at this wedding – the perfect bridesmaid, the inebriated mother-of-the-bride, the sibling who’d rather be somewhere else and the romantic who wants to propose to his partner during the reception. It’s all great fun!”
At the Wedding premiered off-Broadway at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater in 2022. A story of loss, love and redemption, the play focuses on the world’s loneliest (and wittiest) single woman, Carlo, as she crashes her ex-girlfriend’s wedding to a man. Through a series of flirtations, conversations, and collisions with past lovers, old enemies, new friends and perfect strangers, Carlo strives to understand whether or not heartbreak is a permanent human condition.
New York Theatre Guide called At the Wedding “Bitterly funny… wisecracking and wisdom-sharing about the unbreakable bond between love and pain… there’s a fun time to be had at this wedding.” The New York Times shared, “Fresh and trenchant… The lines are funny; Turner has a boxer’s sense of the two-punch rhythm of jokes… Authorial patience is part of what makes At the Wedding so fresh; though there are plenty of one-liners, it is not a yuk-yuk comedy foisting its laughs at you or over-signaling its intentions… Also revivifying is the way Turner reshapes the wedding genre for our time, inviting new characters to the party.”
Island City Stage’s premiere production of At the Wedding is directed by Rogow. An ensemble production, the show stars Hannah Benitez, Sandi Stock, Hannah Hayley, Timothy Mark Davis, Sheena O. Murray, Elizabeth Price and Steven Guez.
Hannah Benitez (Carlo) is an actor/musician who’s appeared in over 30 AEA productions including the original casts of Jethro Compton’s Wolf’s Blood and Here There Are Blueberries. She’s also a playwright/screenwriter with over a dozen professional productions, including GringoLandia at Zoetic Stage. Her play Adaptive Radiation was just published with Broadway Play Publishing. As a screenwriter, she was most recently in the writer’s room for Joconde, directed by Jodi Foster, currently in development with LAMF.
Sandi Stock (Leigh) is a multi-hyphenate artist who has been working in professional theatre for nearly 15 years. They are best known on South Florida stages as the Playboy Bunny from Miami Motel Stories and the embodiment of “Sloth” in the Drama League Award-winning production of 7 Deadly Sins (Miami New Drama). Stock has also appeared in productions at the Arsht Center, Palm Beach Dramaworks, Actors Playhouse, Island City Stage and more. Directing and working with the next generation of artists is a special passion of theirs. You may also find them writing and developing new theatrical works, performing with Karen Peterson Dancers, and making music under the moniker Not Stock.
Hannah Hayley (Carly) is delighted to be making her Island City Stage debut in At the Wedding! A South Florida-based actress, Hayley has a deep passion for storytelling – on stage, on screen and in the classroom. Her favorite credits include Sandra/Florence in The Play That Goes Wrong, Sandy in Grease, Lala in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Ms. Forsythe in Death of a Salesman, Woman 1 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!, Charlotte Hay in Moon Over Buffalo, Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street, Cosette in Les Misérables and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. Outside of the theatre, Hannah works as a professional princess and character performer. She also serves as the current Miss Palm Beach County within the Miss Florida and Miss America Organization, where she advocates for arts education, childhood literacy, and childhood cancer awareness. She is a recent BFA graduate of Lynn University’s Theatre program.
Timothy Mark Davis (Eli) is a South Florida-based theatre and film actor and director who also serves as producing artistic director of New City Players where he has acted in productions of Red, True West, ‘art’, Little Montgomery, A Streetcar Named Desire, All My Sons, and Falling for which he received the Carbonell Award for Best Actor. Other recent stage credits include The Museum Plays (Miami New Drama), Overactive Letdown and The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine-Starr Kidd (Theatre Lab).
Sheena O. Murray (Eva), a Jamaican born, South Florida-based actress, vocalist and songwriter, returns to Island City Stage. Murray has been seen all over regional stages and throughout the United States as a touring artist.
Elizabeth Price (Maria) is an actor, director, writer, and producer based in South Florida. She has received Silver Palm Awards, a Big Easy Award, and Carbonell Award nominations for her acting and directing. Recent roles include Heidi Schreck in What the Constitution Means to Me (City Theatre), Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (New City Players), Annie Wilkes in Misery (Empire Stage), President of the Disney Nation in G7: 2070, Georgie in Sweet Goats and Blueberry Senoritas (Actors’ Playhouse), and Two in What’s Best for the Children (Theatre Lab).
Steven Guez (Victor), a seasoned performer and dedicated healthcare professional, is thrilled to be making his Island City Stage debut. His stage credits include In the Heights (Invision Theatre) and Visiting Mr. Green (West Boca Theatre Company). He attended Southern Methodist University for acting and is a distinguished Florida finalist in the National Shakespeare Competition (2006). He has further honed his skills through a certification in Performing Arts Industry Essentials from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
At the Wedding’s Co-producers are Sue Wilder & Russell Vance, Lights and Sound Sponsor is Scott Bennett, Set Sponsors are Trevor & Margie Fried and Talent Sponsor is the DC Allen & Ken Flick No Gay Hate Fund at Our Fund Foundation.Additional funding is provided by the following: The Our Fund Foundation, The Schubert Foundation Inc., the SHS Foundation, The Maval Foundation, the Warten Foundation, OutClique and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.
At the Wedding closes out Island City Stage’s 2024-25 season of powerful storytelling focusing on the nature of families with sold out performances of The Fantasticks, Edward Albee’s
A Delicate Balance, Fat Ham by James Ijames and The Dying Gaul by Craig Lucas.
Individual show tickets start at $43. A Mimosa Sunday Brunch sponsored by John Fomook & Charles Lee will take place on August 31 for $55. A special Women’s Night at the Theatre sponsored by Sue Wilder will take place on September 7. The show runs for 75 minutes with no intermission.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.islandcitystage.org, call (954) 928-9800 or email boxoffice@islandcitystage.org. Follow Island City Stage on Facebook at facebook.com/IslandCityStageFL and on Instagram at @islandcitystage1.
About Island City Stage
Founded in 2012, Island City Stage is a professional theater committed to sharing stories of universal interest, engaging diverse audiences with entertaining, challenging, and inspiring productions and programs, often exploring the LGBTQ+ culture. These shows are brought to life on stage through the talents of professional artists whose credits include Broadway, Off Broadway, national tours, major regional theaters, film and television. Island City Stage offers an intimate setting with six rows of stadium seating to foster a feeling of inclusion and participation in each theatrical event. Island City Stage is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization. It is located at 2304 N. Dixie Hwy in Wilton Manors. For tickets and more information, please call (954) 928-9800 or visit islandcitystage.org.
