In their shiny bridesmaids' gowns, the title characters in Contemporary Theatre of Dallas' fun, frothy comedy Five Women Wearing the Same Dress resemble bright dollops of strawberry sherbet. Plopped on their heads are matching hats, shaped like the top tiers of a wedding cake. Across their bosoms and backsides are spread enormous bows in the same fabric, making the total effect by costume designer Annell Brodeu a visual assault of shocking pink-on-pink-on-pink.

"Something about this dress makes me feel like Bigfoot," says bridesmaid Mindy (Catherine Wall), the groom's outspoken, out-lesbian older sister. Her fellow attendants are the bride's bitter sibling Meredith (Catherine DuBord); tightly wound, hard-drinking pal Georgeanne (Barrett Nash); world-weary Trisha (Emily Scott Banks); and 21-year-old Frances (Heather Sims), who answers every tempting offer of drink or smoke with "I can't—I'm a Christian."We meet the ladies as they toddle one by one into the bedroom of the younger sister of the bride after a high society wedding in Knoxville, Tennessee. Waiting for the reception to commence on the lawn, the bridesmaids have sneaked upstairs to retouch lip gloss, remove dyed-to-match high heels and take a quick toke to help dull the day's edge. All of them, it turns out, have some personal history with the groom, a charming but nasty predator named Tommy Valentine.