Kelly and Scott are back at the Waterfront (with Jeff and Harry and Tanya)

The Maiden’s Prayer

IF YOU GO:

WHO: Harold Finley, Scott Gilmore and Kelly McGillis

WHAT: The Maiden’s Prayer by Nicky Silver

WHERE: Waterfront Playhouse at Mallory Square

WHEN: Through June 9 on Tues. through Sat. nights; curtain at 8 p.m.

Weddings bring out the best and the worst in people.

When two members of a wedding party hold particularly scandalous secrets, you have Nicky Silver’s dark comedy, The Maiden’s Prayer, now playing at Waterfront Playhouse.

Starring Jeff Baskin, Harold Finley, Scott Gilmore and Kelly McGillis, this contemporary drama is an examination of relationships and notions of identity, peeling away the veneer of America’s latest image-driven generation.

Opening in the garden of a New York estate where an upper middle class wedding is unfolding, the play introduces an impeccably turned out bride, Cynthia (Tanya Foskett), who wears a Laura Ashley designer gown and glows with the anticipation of a wonderful life. At her side, Taylor (Jeff Baskin), the stunning groom, completes the picture of privilege and class.

But not all is perfect. Two members of the wedding party are biting their tongues in anguish. Both the bride’s hard-living sister Libby (Kelly McGillis) and the groom’s best friend, Paul (Scott Gilmore), are in love – with the groom.

Inevitably, everybody’s life is about to change.

“The hypocrisy, the bone-chilling grotesque hypocrisy,” Libby explodes, once the vows have been officially exchanged and she’s fled from the altar.

Soon a whirlwind of devastating problems – a still-born child, alcoholism, promiscuity and professional decline – consume the once-tidy little group. When the conscientiously cheerful Andrew (Harold Finley) enters the scene and begin pursuing a relationship with Paul, the social dynamics are complicated even more.

Playwright Nicky Silver ranks at the top of New York’s new talent. His work includes the acclaimed Fat Men in Skirts, The Food Chain and Pterodactyls. In The Maiden’s Prayer, he deftly explores the concepts of love, need, and basic human decency. The lives of people who imagine an ideal identity for themselves and are then faced with a reality that does not measure up are examined with ruthless honesty and humor.

Director Phil Setren finds the play timely and pertinent. “It’s about exteriors and blocking out pain,” he said. Setren last directed Kelly McGillis and Scott Gilmore in Ben Elton’s Popcorn, a big hit at Waterfront.

Lighting design is by Key West Players technical director Terry Tucker, set designer is Kathleen Drezner, costumer is Barbara Peeples, Private Ear does the sound and the Mrs. Malaprops handle properties.

Tickets for The Maiden’s Prayer are $25. For reservations, call 294-5015.