WEDDING BAND to Begin Performances Tomorrow at the Stratford Festival

Alice Childress’s riveting play Wedding Band – a profound meditation on injustice and intolerance – starts performances at the Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre on Tuesday in a production directed by Sam White.

 

The play, which focuses on an interracial couple, is set in the American South in 1918, a dangerous time for such a relationship. But Julia – a fiercely independent Black seamstress – will not give in to law or convention. Her white fiancé, Herman, dreams of immigrating to New York City, where they can be legally married, but when he is stricken with influenza, the couple’s love is tested like never before.

 

The production features Cyrus Lane as Herman and Antonette Rudder as Julia Augustine, with Maev Beaty as Annabelle, Joella Crichton as Lula Green, Ijeoma Emesowum as Mattie, Liza Huget as Fanny Johnson, and Lucy Peacock as Herman’s Mother. The cast also includes Bola Aiyeola, Aliya Anthony, Aria Anthony, Eleanor Beath, Kevin Kruchkywich, Madison Taylor MacKenzie, Jonathan Mason, Jameela McNeil, Ariel Ollivierre, Irene Poole, Danté Prince, Glynis Ranney, Jamillah Ross and Micah Woods.

 

The creative team features Set Designer Richard H. Morris Jr., Costume Designer Sarah Uwadiae, Lighting Designer Kathy A. Perkins, Composer Beau Dixon, Sound Designer Debashis Sinha and Dramaturg Arminda Thomas.

 

“The wonder of the Tom Patterson Theatre stage,” says White, who is also the founding Artistic and Executive Director of Shakespeare in Detroit, “is that an audience gets an intimate, 180-degree look into these women’s stories. And each of them have a distinct one, as Childress has great compassion for all of her characters – both Black and white, the men and the women. For each one, she gives us cues as to why they think, feel and navigate the world in the way that they do. These are fully human characters whose flaws and imperfections are from the earth. The traumas of abuse, losing a child or children, falling in love, making a living and surviving are the given circumstances of this play and the world we live in today. And after experiencing a pandemic ourselves, the conversation about the influenza in 1918 doesn’t feel so long ago.”

 

Wedding Band has its official opening on July 14 and runs until October 1 in the Tom Patterson Theatre. Tickets are available at stratfordfestival.ca or by calling 1.800.567.1600.

 

The 2023 season also features King Lear, Rent, Much Ado About Nothing, Les Belles-Soeurs, Monty Python’s Spamalot, A Wrinkle in Time, Frankenstein Revived, Grand Magic, Richard II, Casey and Diana, Women of the Fur Trade and Love’s Labour’s Lost. For more information, visit stratfordfestival.ca.

 

Selection of this play was supported by extensive research conducted by Hannah Rittner with support from the Canada Council.

 

Production support is generously provided by Peter & Carol Walters.

 

Corporate support for the 2023 season at the Tom Patterson Theatre is generously provided by BMO Financial Group.

 

Proud Season Partners: BMO Financial Group and RBC.

 

CAST (in alphabetical order)

 

Bola Aiyeola                           Understudy

Aliya Anthony                        Teeta

Aria Anthony                          Teeta

Eleanor Beath                         Princess

Maev Beaty                            Annabelle

Joella Crichton                        Lula Green

Ijeoma Emesowum                 Mattie

Liza Huget                              Fanny Johnson

Kevin Kruchkywich               Bell Man

Cyrus Lane                              Herman

Madison Taylor MacKenzie   Princess

Jonathan Mason                      Shrimp Man

Jameela McNeil                      Understudy

Ariel Ollivierre                       Teeta

Lucy Peacock                         Herman’s Mother

Irene Poole                              Understudy

Danté Prince                           Understudy

Glynis Ranney                        Understudy

Jamillah Ross                          Understudy

Antonette Rudder                   Julia Augustine

Micah Woods                          Nelson Green

 

ARTISTIC CREDITS

 

Director                                               Sam White

Set Designer                                       Richard H. Morris Jr.

Costume Designer                              Sarah Uwadiae

Lighting Designer                               Kathy A. Perkins

Composer                                            Beau Dixon

Sound Designer                                  Debashis Sinha

Dramaturg                                           Arminda Thomas

Supervising Fight Director                 Geoff Scovell

Movement Director                            Pulga Muchochoma

Intimacy Director                               Alix Sideris

Child Performer Advocate                 Maggie Blake

 

Associate Set Designer                       Lorenzo Savoini

Assistant Director                               Chantelle Han

Assistant Set Designer                        Freddy Van Camp

Assistant Costume Designer               Meghan Choma

Assistant Lighting Designer               Simran Kapoor

Assistant Sound Designer                   Alixandra Cowman

Assistant Fight Director                     Christina Fox

 

 

Stage Manager                                    Marie Fewer-Muncic

Assistant Stage Manager                    Judy Farthing

Assistant Stage Manager                    Scarlett Larry

Assistant Stage Manager                    Charlotte Peters

Production Stage Manager                 Meghan Callan

Production Stage Manager                 Marie Fewer-Muncic

Production Stage Manager                 Cynthia Toushan

Production Assistant                           Brianna Unger

 

Technical Director                              Greg Dougherty

 Photo credit: Ted Belton

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