An Irish-Italian Wedding – joining of cultures or family feud?

By Anne Eickstadt

Editor

Monsignor O’Reilly examines the cigar dropped by the murdered father of the groom as the wedding party looks on.

It’s supposed to be a joyous celebration of matrimony. Eileen loves Joey and their backgrounds don’t seem to matter. But from the moment these two families arrived for the wedding reception, there’s been tension in the air.

Joey has been groomed to continue the family tradition in waste management. However, his new wife has other ideas. Suddenly the joyous festivities take a most tragic turn…

Eileen’s online dating service, E-Mate, has grown to the point that she needs full-time help to keep it going strong and she wants her new husband, whom she met on her own site, to be the one working with her. Being deeply in love with his new wife, he agrees. His big announcement to his family that he is leaving his career in ‘waste management’ is not well received. His father and his father’s business associate think Joey is a ‘pansy’ for being willing to work for his wife. 

Meanwhile, Eileen’s heavily drinking maid-of-honor declares her love for Joey and reveals that they once slept together. Her stepmother attempts to seduce more than one man at the event and her new mother-in-law, Bubbles, reveals that she knows her husband cheats on her, “He says it’s for business relations and I understand,” she says. Tensions between families and between family members continue to mount.

While Joey might be able to resist his father’s wishes that he remain with the family business, his Sicilian grandmother (“Italian? Phhff! I am Sicilian!”) is a dominating and scary woman who insists Joey remain true to his family. Eileen does not receive Joey’s change of heart well and begins talking about a divorce before the wedding photos are even taken.

As the wedding party goes outside to take photos, a shot rings out and the father of the groom staggers in with a bloodstained shirt and collapses on the floor. Bedlam ensues as the wedding party rushes back inside, to exclaim over the body. 

Monsignor Patrick O’Reilly announces that not only is he a priest, he is also a private detective and begins his investigation. Members of the wedding party are stepping over the body on the floor (and picking his pocket) to make their accusations and protestations of innocence. The monsignor removes the body and the wedding festivities continue with food and dancing and a song by the maid-of-honor, which she dedicated to groom Joey in another desperate attempt to woo him.

The monsignor then begins his interrogation of the suspects and the wedding guests have the opportunity to also ask questions and assist with the interrogation. They then are able to write down their conclusions of who done it and why. 

The guest(s) who came closest in their conclusions received a free ticket to one of the Main Street Players’ upcoming 2021-2022 shows.

“Irish/Italian Wedding: A Climate for Murder” was performed at the Boone County Museum of History on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 9-10. Rosemary Million provided the table decorations, Countryside Markets provided the food, Coaches’ Corner did bartending, Irma Tate did the wedding cake, and Damian Karich did the cast photography. Members of Main Street Players who were not cast in active roles for the show volunteered to be the servers for the food.