BY MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@thecitizennews.com

Billy Butz and Angel Farmer are getting married and y'all are invited.

That's the premise of the House Red Theater Company's new play anyway. The play is written and directed by Stuart Fail, Starr's Mill High School's drama director, and will be performed at Baci Italian Cuisine in Fayetteville every Monday evening in.

“The Farmer-Butz” wedding is an interactive dinner theater experience. All of the members of the audience are guests at the wedding and the play goes on around the dining area and sometimes at your table.

It wouldn't be a wedding without a little dysfunction and everybody in the wedding party is there, from the nervous bride and groom and the overzealous wedding planners to the redneck parents of the bride, the confused grandfather and the schizophrenic preacher.

The cast is made up of several high school students as well as other local performers who have graced many stages in and around the Fayette County area. Starr's Mill students Dane Davenport and Sarah Turner play Billy Butz and Angel Farmer, while Patrice Azzarito and Michelle Roy play Paula and Babs, the Goldstein sisters. Sometimes the audience is even called upon to fill in selected roles. This reporter was called upon to escort one of the bridesmaids to the altar.

One of the key ingredients to the hilarity was Fail's role as Robert Farmer, Angel's father. “I really didn't want to act in it at all,” Fail explained. “But, I brought an actor friend down from Nova Scotia and he heard me imitate my father and told me, “You must play Robert; nobody knows him like you do.” While the character of Robert Farmer is slightly autobiographical, much of the play is fantastic and very fictional.

As for the flow of the play, it is very much like a real wedding, which was a challenge for the cast at times.

“I tried to explain to the cast that we would treat it the same as a wedding with regard to shifting from location to location,” said Fail. “I also wanted to include the breaks for the audience to be as close to the real thing as possible.”

What ultimately makes the “Farmer-Butz Wedding” succeed is that the cast has such an enjoyable time putting the show on. The festive atmosphere is so contagious that the audience is blowing bubbles at the happy couple and dancing the conga with the whole cast.

The evening includes appetizers, a buffet, dancing, entertainment and, of course, the beautiful and sanctimonious ceremony between two people truly in love. The cost is $30 per person and includes the show, the dinner and the desert. There is also a cash bar for wine and beer. Reservations are necessary. Phone 770-460-7778 or visit www.Baci-Italian-Cuisine.com for information.



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