It’s 1924, and the wedding of the year has been planned in Columbus, Georgia- peanut heir Brewster Tuttle is set to tie the knot with dairy heiress Daisy Doverdill on the shore of Wildwood Lake. Despite the second-class status generally afforded to the mother of the groom, Brewster’s mother Cilla has managed to carve out a leadership role in the festivities, and she’s not letting anything take it away. But there’s a secret at the bottom of Wildwood Lake, one that could upend the lives of both families when it reveals… THE BRIDE FROM OUTER SPACE.
Topher Payne’s delightful and unexpected blend of 1920s drawing room farce with drive-in movie science fiction is a whimsical delight, exploring what it really takes for a mother to let go and send their child out into the world- or perhaps to other worlds entirely.
It’s 1923, and Florence Harding has a problem: her husband, President Warren G. Harding. Under the hanging threat of his sex scandals and financial misdeeds, the Hardings embark on a cross-country train tour to generate good press. But trouble comes along for the ride in the form of two of Warren’s blackmailing mistresses, a scheming Second Lady who’s looking to move up, an incompetent herbalist who somehow became Assistant Surgeon General, a debauched newspaper publisher brandishing a legendary cursed diamond, and a ill-tempered pet squirrel named Handsome Pete. And the source of all the chaos is always charming, useless Warren… whom Florence might just have to deal with once and for all.
Topher Payne was a 2017 Lambda Literary Award finalist for Perfect Arrangement, which was also received the 2014 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award from The American Theatre Critics Association. Perfect Arrangement had its Off-Broadway premiere in 2015, and has since been produced around the world. It is published by Concord Theatricals, alongside his works Angry Fags and Evelyn in Purgatory. His latest premiere is a reimagining of his own 2006 play, The Attala County Garden Club, premiering at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi in April, 2026. Topher is a seven-time nominee and three-time winner of The Gene-Gabriel Moore Playwriting Award, and his holiday comedy Let Nothing You Dismay received the Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding World Premiere The New York Times called him “a deft and witty writer.” As a screenwriter, Topher has scripted six films for The Hallmark Channel. His most recent, The Christmas Baby, is a 2026 GLAAD Media Award Nominee for Outstanding Film for Television. Topher is a proud member of the Dramatist’s Guild of America, The Georgia Writer’s Association, and both the Canadian and American Writer’s Guilds. In 2018, Topher was inducted into The Georgia Theatre Hall of Fame.
The General Admission to The Mississippi Plays Series is free. No reservations required.