Restaurant to host ‘homicidal social event of the year’

WASILLA — Mat-Su Family Restaurant isn’t your typical venue for local theater.

But, then, “The Wedding From Hell,” billed on fliers as “The Homicidal Social Event of the Year,” isn’t exactly your typical play. It’s dinner theater with audience participation, including “guest victims” who get the honor of being killed each night.

“The first weekend is going to be Kathy, Eddie and AJ from Country Legends,” said Christine Lloyd with Homeless Actors of Mat-Su.

The play is a benefit for MyHouse, the local nonprofit working to combat teen homelessness in the Valley.

Lloyd said that the theater troupe contacted United Way of Mat-Su to find a charity Homeless Actors of Mat-Su could help.

“I said, ‘do you know any groups that could use the help?’ and she mentioned them,” Lloyd said.

As for the play, it’s a piece from Eileen Moushey in Ohio. Lloyd found it online.

Thomas G. Jacobs, who plays the father of the bride, said “basically it’s a wedding where everything that could go wrong does go wrong.”

That would be everything up to and including murder. But also the flowers are wilted, too. The cake is lopsided. Instead of a wedding march the keyboardist plays “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” The judge performing the ceremony — Hillary Saffron — is drunk.

Oh, and both the bride and the groom have to endure appearances from their respective exes.

A lot of the blame, the cast agreed just before rehearsal last week, falls on the inept wedding planner.

“In reality I would be an awesome wedding planner,” said Jennifer McGuffey, who plays that part.

So, at least for the wedding party, it might therefore be something of a relief when murder is added to the list of calamities befalling these hellacious nuptials.

Lloyd said the audience will be asked to pick the murderer from a rogues gallery of characters.

Jacobs said that his nephew was whipping up a lopsided cake and the wilted flowers come courtesy of Flowers by Louise.

“They said they’d give us old flowers, they had no problem with that,” he said.

Dinner choices include salmon, chicken, hamburger, lasagna and vegetarian, and there are plans to auction off a Valentine’s Day-themed quilt. Tickets are on sale in Wasilla at Burchell High School and Alaska Crafters in Creekside Plaza or in Palmer at Fireside Books and United Way Mat-Su.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.