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By RICH DAVIS, Evansville Courier staff writer A toast to the bride and groom: "Illeg ja ja." (May you find a blood worm in your glass.)
Jo Ann Curl, an Evansville legal secretary, and Vince Stone, a senior graphic designer for Atlas Van Lines, expect to hear those guttural words a lot on Stardate 6.21.97. That's when their wedding party lands at Temple of Kahless for a Klingon bonding ritual. For you humans, we'll translate: the happy couple are getting married Saturday at Armstrong Recreation Center northwest of Evansville. Their ritualistic wedding promises to resemble dinner theater or even a Hollywood back lot, complete with theatrical script and makeup artists. More than a third of the 330 guests from several states will be in Klingon and other Star Trek-inspired costumes. Because of the surly, warrior-like nature of Klingons (whose alien tongue is spoken in the Star Trek movies and TV shows), plans call for two duels, a beheading and a "river of blood" dance to be weaved into the 8 p.m. civil ceremony. Ms. Curl and Stone met four years ago at a Star Trek function and formed an Evansville Klingon club called HAVOK whose slick newsletter goes international. Living in the Klingon world as M'Lar is just a weekend hobby. "Some people put on a baseball uniform. Some people go play hockey. I dress up like a Klingon and have a ball," laughs Ms. Curl, joking that she tried to get her engagement picture in "Bride Beautiful" magazine. It takes her more than an hour to get into her permanently furrowed latex brow, wig and other makeup and clothing. Out of costume, she has waist-length brown hair and softer features. Because Stone prefers to stay out of the limelight and be the creative force for their club, he's not actually a Klingon. His persona? He's Nagh'Ro, a human who was captured by a Klingon raiding party, kept as a pet and made a son of a Klingon house when he saved his master's life. While they're having fun with an event they say snowballed from informal to huge, there is a serious and even poignant side to all this. Her parents, Joe and Ann Curl - who agreed to participate in Klingon cloaks as T'L'th and AleiSHA - will reaffirm their wedding vows during the ceremony. June 21 is their wedding anniversary. Stone's mother, Darlene Stone, who died this month from a terminal illness, will be remembered: "She was desperately trying to stay alive for the wedding," Ms. Curl adds quietly. As for his 82-year-old grandmother, Lorena Bretz: "Grandma is still trying to understand why we're getting married like this," says Stone. "But she's excited." Ms. Curl's boss and friend, Mary Jane Humphrey - an Evansville attorney being appointed judge pro tempore for the day - will perform the civil ceremony. She's brushing up on her Klingon, finding out that learning this final frontier of languages can be a real oy (pain). Novice speakers often are warned to carry a handkerchief for some of the saliva-spraying sibilants. At the wedding Ms. Curl will speak Klingon (a forceful 4,000-word language created in the 1980s by linguist Marc Okrand) and Stone will translate into English. Thus, guests might hear her utter, "Bang nob jiH SoH" and Stone say, "I pledge my love to you." Sarah Burgett (BiAnKa) will be matron of honor, restoring M'Lar's honor by killing a challenger. And Stone's brother, Charles, will be his best man. "There's going to be a lot of theatrics ... Vince and I will come out and welcome everyone to join us in our insanity, to have a little fun with us," said Ms. Curl. She will switch from her traditional satin, hand-beaded gown into a Klingon outfit (lots of cleavage) for the Mootkatvetch. That's a reception that promises some Klingon head-butting and boasting, where, if someone gives you a hard time, you might insult the dweeb by saying, "Bljatlh 'e' ylmev Denibya' Qatlh!" (Shut up, you Denebian slime devil!) 06.16.97 |
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