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A Runaway Bride play without the bride
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Jennifer Wilbanks went missing in Duluth three years ago on the eve of her wedding, the story shot to the top of the CNN/Fox News radar. Was she kidnapped? Murdered?
In the end, we all know how it played out. She pretended to be kidnapped, then came the truth: she simply had cold feet. And she became a butt of Jay Leno jokes, dubbed forever more as the “Runaway Bride.”
And the story quickly faded away, tucked away into our memories as a mildly amusing trinket of that time. She and her fiance John Mason (since separated) cashed in, pocketing $500,000 for a possible book/movie deal that never materialized. The problem: the story in retrospect lacked the depth and resonance to work as either a book or a movie.
Or as a play.
Shelly Howard, theater director for the Red Clay Theatre in Duluth, justified the Runaway Bride play to the opening audience of about 60 people Thursday night. “I’ve been asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’ And I cannot be convinced that this is anything but a celebration of a missing person gone good. This is someone who didn’t end up in a body bag.”
In an odd way, that “missing person” was more or less missing from the play. The writers, Beverly Cantwell and Deborah Childs, chose not to even name Wilbanks or have a single actress portray her in any tangible way. There were visual cues to her hiding her face with a blanket and holding a teddy bear when she was in Albuquerque. There were references to a Greyhound bus station, shots of actresses using a pay phone and a scene where they pick up garbage as “community service.”: But John Mason, her fiance, was nowhere to be found. Wilbanks’ bug-eyed look is never mentioned. And her made-up story about being kidnapped by a Hispanic man and white woman didn’t make the cut.
Rather, they tried to focus the story around a bunch of well-meaning, unnamed Duluth residents. Those said residents spent the play reacting to the disappearance, helping hand out flyers in the audience for the missing Wilbanks and expressing outrage after they find out they were duped. But since the supposed main character of Wilbanks is a bit of a ghost, the entire play felt unfettered and ultimately padded, even at 65 minutes. And in terms of parody, this was of the mildest variety.
“It was a good satire and handled in a light manner,” said Nancy Ragan, a Duluth resident who called herself a “resident onlooker” during the search for Wilbanks in April 2005.
Even the media, which is ripe for parody given the overboard coverage at the time, was treated with kid gloves. (Quite literally, a couple of the broadcast journalists were played by kids.)
There were a few inside jokes for Duluthians. They got a few chuckles for referencing the common line, “Nobody knows Duluth like Duluthians.” And when the fictional mayor spoke to the press, the train would go by and drown her out.
Deborah Childs, who directed the play as well, fashioned a few amusing moments. The opening scene featuring a wedding planner demanding things get bigger and bigger was well choreographed. She has some cops do an army chant and a dance in which they “sound off” between “kidnapped” and “cold feet.” The town works together and sings the Ben E. King classic “Stand By Me.” And writers gave funny lines to Barbara Bruce and Dean Fowler, who played a believable, old-time Duluthian couple.
And though Wilbanks’ name is never uttered (in fact, bleeped out during a fake newscast), Smyrna hometown gal Julia Roberts is namechecked twice. And yes, she was the fictional “Runaway Bride” in a film that preceded the real thing.
The play “The Runaway Story of the Runaway Bride: Re-live the chaos” will run through April 20, Thursdays to Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. 3116 Main Street, Duluth, 770-622-1777, www.redclaytheatrearts.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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