Are 3 shows better than 1?

This winter I was thinking about how to adjust elements of The Wedding Show so that it has more repeat value, costs less to put on, and includes more audience engagement with a smaller cast. These musing led to many sleepless nights and a lot of conversations about what the best parts of the show are. 
One of my half formed ideas was to do all the things before The Wedding but never do the wedding. We'd stage a proposal out in public and turn it into a huge dance party. And then we'd put on another event designed around the theme of a wedding sampling, where everyone who attends gets to taste dessert nibbles, and choose the color palette and wedding scents and even select the wedding dress for the bride. The final event of course would be an off the chain bachelorette or fox-do where we play raunchy games and drink cocktails with suggestive names. I'm not totally ready to let go of all of these ideas yet...but I've come around to believe that The Wedding is the most important thing about the Show. It's not The Wedding Show without a wedding....
So we settled on 3 weddings this year, WITH some pre-wedding engagements to get you all excited and ready for the end of the summer. 
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The 2025 cast has just been announced and you can clean some information about what's to come by checking out the FAQ page on the website. 
Just like last year there will be 3 acts, but the flow of the show will look different. 

We'll be starting out at Ports of New York so that everyone is well hydrated before they sit down for the ceremony. Last year we introduced character cards for the brave folks who wanted to take on a role. As you enter the venue, you'll be able to choose a role and follow a few prompts to influence the plot.
It's a show right? We're continuing to blur the line between theatre and reality and as chance would have it, I came upon a popcorn maker a few months ago, which inspired this popcorn costume... so one or both of these things will make an appearance this summer. Probably just the popcorn machine...

Act I will of course be the ceremony, with some new obscure traditions. My inspiration for the ceremony came from a cross country ski adventure where I found myself in a copse of trees, overlooking a gorge and then stumbled into a rock labyrinth. A few weeks later I found a book of labyrinths on a coffee table in Colorado. So there will be a labyrinth at the wedding and if David Bowie were around, he's surely be on the invite list. 

Act II will be a cabaret of sorts. Select wedding guests will perform as a tribute to the Brides. Want to perform? Let the Officiant know after the wedding...The audience will have engagement opportunities, so you're welcome to bring your special talent for a 3 minute talent show.

Act III is my favorite part of the night. It's when everything falls apart and comes back together. There will be drama, there will be singing and dancing. There will be dessert. And who knows. The might even be a food truck. That's TBD...but all good weddings have a lake night food truck role up, right?

For a little dip into reality, it's been tough to figure out how to pull off the show this summer. I've never been busier before and my mind has been pulled in 5 different directions since starting graduate school last Fall, but I don't want to not do this show. It feels important. It feels like a space that we need right now. The thing that has made the show so special is the relationship building that goes on with the cast during rehearsals. The way that we grow and open our minds to different ways of thinking and being...and actually become better people because we're learning about one another and how different people move about in the world. I want this show to continue to be a space where people can learn from each other, trust and accept one another and bring that attitude out into the real world.

​There was one night of the show two years ago where a group of women approached me at the end to say that this was the first time they'd ever been out at a public event or theatre show where they felt represented and like they could really be themselves and be comfortable in their skin. They were able to hold hands and dance with their partners and laugh at jokes that were relevant to their experience. They'd gone 40 years without having some of that validation and The Wedding Show unlocked a new chapter. I want the show to keep doing that. I want to audience to feel safe, and seen in this show about queer love. 

The more we really know and respect the people around us, the easier it is to care about people we don't yet know. So we're taking a group of strangers, guiding them through an experience where they can make friends and see the uniqueness in one another and then sending them back into the world with maybe a few more tools that they can use to make meaningful connections and keep an open mind when interacting with people who are different from themselves. 

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