Pop quiz: If the quote from Tuc Watkins (David, OLTL) reads, "They are worthy adversaries of one another, and they really can't stand one another," is the actor referring to his on-air spouse, Dorian, or perhaps Dorian's annoying niece Kelly? Actually, the answer to the question is neither. Instead, Watkins is describing the relationship between Jay and Bonnie, the characters he and Marissa Chibas play in Frederick Stroppel's Fortune's Fools. The off-Broadway play is currently previewing at New York's Cherry Lane Theatre.

Fortune's Fools, which, Watkins says, "in its most basic form is a feel-good romantic comedy," is about an engaged couple, Chuck and Gail (Danton Stone and Dorrie Joiner), and their best man and maid of honor, Jay and Bonnie. Although Chuck and Gail are newlyweds by the end of the first act, Watkins notes, "not much of it takes place at the wedding, so it's not so much wedding-party talk as it is the conversations that you have with a real good friend of yours who is actually going through with getting married. Jay thinks marriage is a good for Chuck but not for himself, because he's looking for the perfect person." While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how Jay and Bonnie end up, initially, "Bonnie is the bane of his existence."

Watkins, who is making his New York theatrical debut in Fortune's Fools, compares Jay and Bonnie to Benedick and Beatrice, as well as Kate and Petruchio from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew, respectively. "I've done scene work from Much Ado About Nothing, and I'm using Kenneth Branagh's and Emma Thompson's take on those characters from the [1993] film version as my role models in doing these scenes," he says.

Fortune's Fools opens May 24 for an open-ended run. "I think it's a great play to be done in the summer, because it's light, it's accessible, it's funny," says Watkins.