Review: ‘Confirmation’ at Theater One

As much as they’d like you to think otherwise, there is never any doubt as to how Confirmation will end. The script tries to keep you guessing and the cast is intent upon acting as if the climax is in doubt, but it never is. That doesn’t mean the trip can’t be enjoyable, however.

Mariah Palestri and Alex Riley (Elise Hodge and Ryan Boyd, respectively) are about to be wed on the morning of Dec. 31, 1999, but when they arrive with family witness Gil Riley (Rick Grant-Coons) in tow, the minister is missing. How could Alex not have confirmed the ceremony in person instead of by telephone messages? How could Mariah have left details to anyone other than herself?

Another friend—steakhouse owner Reba Childress (BJ Nash)—and convenience store owner Dimitri Gregorin (Philip Pittman) are drawn into the effort to find the missing minister. And then … well, you know.

Lonon Smith wrote and directed the romantic comedy and solicits generally good performances from the cast. Grant-Coons and Nash are especially fine in their supporting roles, as is Hodge as the bride-to-be. Pittman has a light comic touch in a small role, but Boyd seems to have taken the reticent groom description a little too literally.