Dominique McClellan wrote his first full-length play, “The Wedding Party,” while deployed to Iraq in 2008, and on Nov. 14 the New Orleans resident is bringing the comedy back to a local stage. The show, a story about a divorced mother preparing a pre-wedding dinner for her son and his fiancée that ultimately reunites a family split by divorce, goes up at 7 p.m. at McDonough 35 College Preparatory High School, with tickets priced at $35.
McClellan, now 46, enlisted in the Army after high school and later joined the National Guard to help pay for school, according to The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate. He was sent to Iraq in 2007, where, per the same account, his unit colleagues built the play's set and light boxes and Iraqi vendors made suits and dresses for the cast. His commanding officer approved staging the play on base, and his mother shipped stage supplies and a homemade wedding cake from Mississippi for the occasion.
The Advocate's reporting states McClellan wrote the script, which ran 100 pages, in three months, and that the original one-night-only performance took place in Balad, Iraq, in front of 800 military personnel and civilian contractors. A separate account from Mississippi Free Press describes a similarly packed house but frames the crowd differently, quoting McClellan saying, “It was almost sold out. Almost 800 soldiers showed up.” Mississippi Free Press also reports that his unit deployed to Iraq in 2007 and that the original skit “erupted into a 100-page play.”
From a Base in Iraq to the Ole Miss Stage
McClellan has said audience responses to that first production motivated him to pursue theater, the Advocate reports. After returning from Iraq, he went back to Ole Miss, where he double-majored in theater and journalism, graduating in 2010 with bachelor's degrees in mass communication and theater, according to Mississippi Free Press.
Derrick Davis, who served as McClellan's sergeant in Iraq, performed one of the roles in the original 2008 production and remains part of the story the Advocate tells about the play's origins. McClellan moved to New Orleans in 2012 and now works in media and film. Since relocating, he has produced “The Wedding Party” in Louisiana and Mississippi, per Mississippi Free Press's reporting.
A Cast Rooted in Local Theater
In the current production, McClellan plays Rufus, husband to Sophia, a grandmother and maternal figure played by Riga Ruby, a Jefferson Parish theater teacher and comedian who has performed in “The Wedding Party” since 2015. Ruby told the Advocate about her reasons for joining the production.
The Nov. 14 production includes partnerships with community organizations, and the show offers ticket discounts for veterans and seniors. McClellan had planned to tour “The Wedding Party” around the South, but COVID-19 deferred that goal, the Advocate reports.
