By Bridgette M. Redman
Jared Gertner (right) will take five days off from The Gem Theatre's "Plaid Tidings" to marry his fiance, Jeffrey Marshek. Photo: Courtesy of The Gem Theatre
DETROIT –
Jared Gertner has a lot of understanding people in his life.
He's getting married in Connecticut on Nov. 14 – four days after the show he's performing in, "Plaid Tidings," opens at the Gem Theater in Detroit. His fiance is in New York, where the two of them share an apartment.
"The Gem has been so kind to me about letting me take time off – most regional theaters won't give you time off for almost anything," said Gertner. "They're giving me five days so I can go home, finish preparations, get married and then take two days with my fiance before he goes back to New York and I come back to Detroit."
They won't see each other again until Thanksgiving when they'll both travel to Cleveland for a family dinner. His family is also pretty understanding – for they're all willing to travel to Connecticut for the wedding. That was the closest state where Gertner and his fiance, Jeffrey Marshek, could marry legally.
"We are having a big honking Jewish wedding – a good old gay Jewish wedding," Gertner said. "We're having 200 plus people and we're getting married by this wonderful rabbi that we found. There will be a lot of family, a lot of friends, and a cocktail-style wedding. It will be a big dance party."
They'll arrive on Saturday for their rehearsal dinner, get married on Sunday, and then go to Mystic, Connecticut for what they're calling a "mini-moon": two days together before Marshek returns to his writing and wine business work in New York and Gertner to his musical in Detroit.
It wasn't exactly what they had planned when they first booked the wedding last January – or when they got engaged in August 2009.
Gertner performed in "Plaid Tidings" during the summer at the Cape Village Playhouse in Massachusetts. Representatives from the Gem came to see the show. Afterward they asked him if he'd be willing to come to Detroit for the holidays. He said he'd like to, but that he was getting married on Nov. 14 and he'd need time off.
"They said 'we'll get back to you,' and I figured that was the end of it," Gertner said. "They called my agent in September and said, 'We would like Jared to come do 'Tidings' at the Gem and we are prepared to give him as much time as he needs for his wedding. How much time does he need?' I am so grateful to them for being so understanding and accommodating. It's more rare than you think."
His role will be filled by an understudy who knew when he was hired that he'd have to learn Gertner's role – Sparky – very quickly.
"Over the years I've missed a lot of weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs and anniversaries," Gertner said, acknowledging that his family has always understood lack of time off was part of being a professional actor. "I thought, I can't miss my own wedding – it's the one wedding I have to be present for."
