Cast of Red Barn’s Production AT THE WEDDING

Ah, weddings. Those wonderful celebrations of love and the commitment of two hearts to the sharing of a life together. We expect an evening of joy, laughter, too much good food and drink, and endless toasts to the happy couple.

And then there is the somewhat sideways reception for the nuptials depicted in Bryna Turner’s heartfelt and hilarious “At The Wedding,” the next mainstage presentation in the Red Barn Theatre’s 46th season. Running January  20 through February 14 at their 319 Duval Street facility, it is an invitation that you surely won’t want to miss.

It’s not that Turner’s very funny play doesn’t have all the trappings of a typical joy-filled wedding. They’re in there somewhere. But she has reimagined the classic wedding-genre story by lampooning the tropes of such stories and adding just enough off-the-wall spice to elevate the play into the rare air of great comedy that manages to deliver a poignant message.

The story centers around a gregarious wiseacre named Carlo who has crashed the wedding of her ex-girlfriend, Eva, a vivacious young woman that has left their gay relationship to marry a straight man. Carlo has several goals in attending: not to get drunk, not to make little kids cry, and to try to win back Eva. The play is fast-paced, sharp, funny, and emotional, blending its humor with poignant reflections on love, loneliness, and heartbreak.

Along the way, we meet a cornucopia of great characters: Carly, the bridesmaid and “frenemy” of Carlo; Eli, a  high school English teacher who thinks all of life can be explained in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Leigh, an alluring guest who flirts with Carlo and tries to get her to ditch the wedding with her; Victor, a very charming waiter; and Maria, the classic mother of the bride. The brilliance of Turner’s play is how she uses the interactions of these characters to examine how societal institutions often fail to accommodate diverse human experiences. And she does it while making us laugh out loud.

The play features the talents of Jess Polak, Martha Hooten-Hattingh, Jody Orrigo, Rita Troxel, Susannah Wells, Jessica Miano-Kruel, and Jack McDonald. It is directed by Joy Hawkins.

“I loved the play instantly,” said director Hawkins, also the Red Barn’s artistic director. “She’s a total fresh voice. The play has a nuance and poignancy, and a very special sweetness. It’s very today. We get to take this journey with this woman who is so adorably lost, and we get a great romantic look at life and how hard it can be sometimes. It’s simply an adorable play.”

DC Theatre Arts called the show “…wickedly funny…with plot twists and laugh-a-minute dialogue…”. TheatreMania called it “…brutally hilarious…”. The New York Times says, “…spritely smart…so fresh…so funny…”.

Tickets for “At The Wedding” can be purchased at redbarntheatre.com or 305-296-9911. Curtains for all shows are at 7:30 pm. Be aware that there is no parking at the Red Barn Theatre.

Christine Mild

Christine Mild, vocalist star of the uber-popular “Always…Patsy Cline” shows, will return to Key West’s Red Barn Theatre with her all-new evening of songs from the vaults of country music.

The all-new show is called “Queens of Country Music: Patsy! Dolly! Loretta!” The limited engagement runs January 7 – 10, 2026 only, and is expected to sell out quickly, as all of Mild’s past shows have done.

“When I started designing the show,” Mild said recently, “I asked myself who I would call the ultimate Queens of country music – the ones who set the bar and who have influenced everyone who’s followed them. And honestly, there were only three – Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn. You can name dozens of “Duchesses” who came up after them and thanks to them, but those three stand by themselves.”

Mild will be cherry-picking the best of the Queens in the new show’s line-up of classic country, while sprinkling in tunes from several Duchesses, including Reba McEntire, Linda Ronstadt, Gretchen Wilson, and Beyonce.

“For a country music lover, this show will give you a multitude of songs that you know and love from these remarkable women,” Mild said. “And we won’t forget a few of the newer voices that may hint at who might, at some point, assume the kind of reign Patsy, Dolly, and Loretta were able to achieve.”

Joining Mild on stage will be what she calls a “kick-ass ensemble” of great players. She’s enticed UK guitarist Matt Becker, who has played with the likes of Julian Lennon, among many other notables, to spend some time in Key West and join her on stage.  Playing bass will be Geoff Lowe, a friend from Chicago, who many Key Westers may have seen in playing recently around the jazz clubs in town. Key West’s Gary McDonald will again be on drums, and the keyboards will be handled by Jim Rice.

“It’s a great, great band,” Mild said, “and we’ll also be adding another terrific female voice in my dear friend Erin Parker, who has a real connection to Nashville as one of Reba McIntyre’s back-up singers. She’s fantastic. With that group on stage, there’s no way you won’t have an awesome time. This will be our best one yet.”

For tickets and more information, check redbarntheatre.com or call the box office at 305-296-9911.

PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102

For Immediate Release

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Just for the fun of it, let’s imagine Charles Dickens happens to run into William Shakespeare in an out-of-the-way London pub late on a snowy Christmas Eve, and they start talking shop, and after five or six pints, they’ve drunkenly forged an outrageous idea for a new Christmas play – a little bit Charles, a little bit William, and all of it hilarious.

Well, we actually don’t have to imagine it, because with the Red Barn’s opening mainstage show of its 46th season, we get to see the kind of unprecedented madness such a collaboration might yield.

“Scrooge Macbeth,” by the award-winning playwright David MacGregor, is a fantastically funny mash-up of everything The Bard and everything The Boz. And it effortlessly manages to get us fully into the Christmas spirit and keep us there for 80 minutes. The show runs December 9 through January 3, 2026, with all curtains at 7:30 pm.

The story centers around a small community theater about to open a holiday production of Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale.” The hope is that the show will save the financially-strapped theater before bankruptcy closes the doors. But as fate would have it (so Shakespearean…), most of the cast is laid low by food poisoning (so Dickensian…) mere moments before curtain time, leaving the last four actors standing to pull some kind of holiday entertainment together on the fly for the audience that is waiting just outside the theater. What they come up with is Shakespeare running headlong into Dickens as they try to combine two iconic tales into a single production, complete with improvised turns on the best-known carols of the season.

“It’s one of the funniest plays I’ve ever been a part of,” said Barn Managing Director Mimi McDonald, who also directs the show. “It has a surprise a minute and takes advantage of the intimacy of the Barn’s space – the audience will feel they’re right in the craziness as part of the show. And I think it capitalizes on the strengths of the Red Barn – we love the off-beat, the off-kilter here, and we’re lucky to have cast some of the great comedic actors Key West has.”

The show features a host of Shakespeare characters as you’ve never seen them – imagine hearing “I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas” sung from the point of view of Richard III. Or Ebenezer Scrooge showing up on Juliet’s balcony. Or Hamlet going Christmas shopping. And then there are the twisted turns on the most beloved holiday carols, like the Shakespearean take on the “Twelve Days of Christmas” –

“Twelve Severed Heads!
Eleven Forest Fairies,
Ten Doomed Lovers…”

You get the idea. The fun, music, and Christmas spirit never stop, even when one of the characters – an over-the-top diva – adds a bit of drama to the proceedings by refusing to do the show until he’s allowed to play Othello, who gets pulled into a very odd and lyrical holiday Shakespeare cabaret. And yes, it’s as funny as you’d imagine it would be.

“Scrooge Macbeth” stars Key West’s Dominic Paolillo, Nina Pilar, Mathias Maloff, Cassidy Timms, and Gerri Louise Gates, all perfectly suited to play the laugh-a-minute insanity of such a tale. Costumes will be brilliantly styled by Sushi.

Broadway World called the play “…a confectionary Holiday Romp that will make you feel good.” The TBN Weekly said the play “fills the audience with holiday cheer while poking fun at the world’s most famous writers.” The Gabber called it “…a blazingly witty script.”

While the play is set for the holiday season, be aware that there will be no performances Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or New Year’s Eve. There will be a performance New Year’s Day. There will be an Opening Night Party after the performance on December 9, with all ticketholders welcome to join the cast and crew for light fare and libations.

There is no parking at the Red Barn Theatre.

For tickets to “Scrooge Macbeth” or to purchase a subscription to the entire 46th Season (and save 20%!), visit redbarntheatre.com or call the box office at 305-296-9911.

Sponsored in part by Key TV and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, and by the generous donations of our patrons.

PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox at 302-540-6102

For Immediate Release

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Key West’s Red Barn Theatre will follow up last year’s remarkably successful season with another stellar lineup of plays and special events that will bring a full measure of laughter and emotion to its audiences.

“I think there’s something for everyone,” said Joy Hawkins, the Barn’s artistic director. “We take our time finding the best new plays that have come along, and this year’s group is very special. And we’re again fortunate to have a terrific company of actors to bring them to life.”

The Red Barn’s 46th Season kicks of December 9th this year with the holiday-themed “Scrooge Macbeth” by David MacGregor. It’s a hilarious mash-up of Dickens and Shakespeare when a theater company is left to come up with a replacement show for their Shakespeare production when all their actors call out sick. Can they save their theater by coming up with a show in a couple of hours? It’s a very funny collision of everything Christmas and everything Shakespeare. The show stars Dominic Paolillo, Nina Pilar, Mathias Maloff, Cassidy Timms, and Gerri Louise Gates, and will be directed by Mimi McDonald. It will run through January 3, 2026. Please note that there will be no performances Christmas Eve, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve.

Christine Mild will return to the Barn with her latest musical special event, “The Queens of Country: Patsy! Dolly! Loretta!”. The show will have only four performances, January 7-10, 2026. Pianist Jim Rice will once again lead a terrific country band to back Christine up. Limited tickets will be available, and Christine always sells out, so grab your seats as soon as they go on sale later this summer.

Joy Hawkins will direct the next mainstage production, “At the Wedding”, by Bryna Turner, running January 20 through February 14, 2026.  Patrons will be cordially invited to a Northern California wedding and meet Carlo, an agent of comedic chaos, as she attempts to make it through the night without drinking too much, talking too much, or trying to win back the bride. The very funny play stars Jess Polak, Martha Hooten-Hattingh, Jody Orrigo, Rita Troxel, Susannah Wells, Jessica Miano Kruel, and Jack McDonald.

Next up February 24 through March 21, 2026 will be a wonderful musical revue, “And the World Goes Round”. The show features the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb, the composers behind such great hits as “Chicago,” “Cabaret,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” and the movie scores for “Funny Lady” and “New York, New York.” It will be directed by Joy Hawkins and Lauren Thompson, with musical direction by Michael Fauss, and feature the voices of Lauren Thompson, Jeremy Zoma, Claire Caplan, and more.

The Barn’s season will close with “A Rock Sails By,” a play by Sean Grennan that Broadway World called “A thought-provoking story filled with humor, and emotion.” When a UFO is sighted heading towards Earth, astrophysicist Dr. Lynn Cummings grants an interview to a journalist who has misquoted her, inviting him to view the object with her as it comes close to our planet. There is no telling what she will discover beyond the stars. The play will be directed by Joy Hawkins and star George DeBraud, Susannah Wells, Jody Orrigo, Fritzie Estimond, and Glenda Donovan. “A Rock Sails By” will run March 31 through April 25, 2026.

Tickets will be available on this website and at 305-296-9911 later this summer. As always, Opening Night ticket holders are invited to an Opening Night reception with the cast and crew. So make your plans now to join us for another stellar season at the Red Barn!

A Celebration of Life for John Wells will be held at the Red Barn Theatre on Friday, November 21 from 5-7pm. Join us as we share stories, laughter, and love in remembrance of a life well lived. All who knew and loved John are welcome to attend.

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We are heartbroken to share the news that our dear friend, John Wells, one of the Founding Members of the Red Barn Theatre left this earthly plane August 14, 2025. John was a consummate performer, actor, musician, and passionate storyteller who lit up the stage in countless productions for over 45 years at all of the stages in Key West Theatre. He leaves behind his loving wife and daughter. His presence will be profoundly missed, but his legacy will live on in the Red Barn and in the hearts of all who knew him.

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JOHN LEE WELLS

Songwriter, singer, musician, actor and storyteller John Lee Wells passed away  August 14, 2025, peacefully, at his home in Key West where he had been a resident since 1978.  Born in Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, he went on to lead the marching band of John Marshall High School and was a graduate of the University of Richmond where he was the Drum Major for their award-winning ROTC Band. In the late 60's John founded the very successful band The John Wells Delegation which enjoyed over a decade of popularity playing every major club in the Washington D.C. area including the famed Cellar Door, Blues Alley and The Bitter End and The Village Gate in NYC.  The Delegation was known for their original songs, tight harmonies and electric showmanship that defied genres with their blend of rock, folk and showtunes.  They scored several documentaries for NBC-TV including Venice Be Damned, The Inside World of Outer Space and appeared on the Today Show.  Patty Duke and Elizabeth Taylor (to John Warner) had them play at their wedding receptions.

John was a major figure in all of Key West's theatres.  One of the founding members of The Red Barn Theatre, he was cast in leading roles that included Pippin, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well..., The Roar of the Greasepaint..., One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Smoke on the Mountain, Love Letters, several versions of Conchs, Cowboys and Tales of Old Key West and so many more, including his own one-man show John Wells is Still Alive and Well and Living in Key West.  Musicals at the Tennessee Williams Theatre Included leading roles in Oliver, South Pacific, The Music Man, The Man of La Mancha and appearances with The Paradise Big Band.  He also was seen at The Waterfront Playhouse in Urinetown, August: Osage County, The Trip to Bountiful and 1776.  John was the original Pool Man of Key West, an appreciator of home cooked meals from Fausto's and a friend to most everyone he met.

He will be missed by his traveling buddy....his wife and partner of 50 years...Joy Hawkins, his beloved daughter Zoe Hawkins-Wells to whom he was the greatest Popi in the world, his adoring nieces and their children and all those who were fortunate to know and love him.

A Celebration of his Life will be held at The Red Barn Theatre on Friday, November 21 from 5 - 7.  All those who knew and loved him are welcome.  Only bikes may park at the Barn.