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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