The Importance of Being Earnest
Dates: June 12-22
Run Time: 2 Hours
Ages: Nine and up
(There is no official rating system for live theatre. We invite you to use your own judgment.)
Oscar Wilde’s wildly entertaining comedy sparkles with dazzling wordplay and hilariously unlikely situations.
This “trivial comedy for serious people” features two carefree bachelors, Jack and Algernon, each with a carefully hidden double life. But when Algernon discovers that Jack has been posing as a man named Ernest to escape to the city, he promptly travels to Jack’s country estate to pose as the fictional figure himself!
Silliness ensues with whimsical ingénues, jealous fiancées, indomitable dowagers, and the most famous handbag in theatre history.
Meet the Actors & Crew
OSCAR WILDE (1854 – 1900) was born in Dublin to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane. While studying at Oxford, he was fascinated by the aesthetic movement and eventually became a proponent for L’art pour l’art (“Art for Art’s Sake”), and wrote the award-winning poem Ravenna. After he graduated in 1879, he moved to Chelsea in London to establish a literary career. Upon graduating in 1879, he moved to London to review art, write poetry and lecture in the UK, the United States and Canada. In 1884, Mr. Wilde married Constance Lloyd and, in the course of their turbulent marriage, had two sons. His first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1891 and has been adapted for the stage. Mr. Wilde’s first successful theatrical endeavor, Lady Windermere’s Fan, opened in 1892. He went on to create the wonderfully popular comedies A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and the classic The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Not long afterward, Mr. Wilde was publicly accused of homosexuality and arrested for gross indecency. During his time in prison he wrote De Profundis, a dramatic monologue and autobiography, which was addressed to his lover Bosie. Three years after his release in 1897, he died of cerebral meningitis in a rundown Paris hotel. Known for his philosophical wit and irreverent charm, Mr. Wilde is famously quoted as saying “Life is too important to be taken seriously.”
ROB ODORISIO (Scenic Designer) THEATRE: New York Credits:Stomp, Family Secrets, Sealed For Freshness, An Empty Plate in the Café’ du Grand Beouf (Drama Desk nomination), Things you Shouldn’t say past Midnight as well as work for Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, MCC, The New Group, WPA, Primary Stages, The Public Theatre, Circle Rep, Theatre Works USA, The Julliard School and Soho Repertory. Regional Theatre:Hartford Stage Company, The Old Globe, Dallas Theatre Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Alliance Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, among others. TELEVISION:“CBS This Morning” (two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Art Direction), “Whistleblower”, “Face The Nation”, “60 Minutes”, “48 Hours”, “CBS Sports”, “CBS Sunday Morning”, “The JFKAnniversary Special” (Emmy Award), “Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, “Sesame Street”, “David Letterman”, “America Reframed” Season 1 and 2, “PBS”, “Wonderama” 2016 & 2017, “In Between Men” (Web series), “The Stand Up” (ABC After School Special), “The Guiding Light”, (3 Emmy nominations), “The Nate Burkes Show”, “Super Bowl XLIV 2010”, “Person to Person” (CBS) as well as work for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”, Showtime, BET, Fox, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, WE Network, Wedding Central and MTV.
SKY SWITSER (Costume Design) Sky is thrilled to be returning to the Cape Playhouse after designing Sylvia last year, and ART in 2017. Other favorite design credits include re-creating the Broadway design for Waitress on London's West End, the national tour of PJ Masks Live!, Hold Your Peace (film), Ajax (the Flea), Squash (the Flea), Propaganda! (Pearl), Legally Blonde (The Muny, St.Louis), Bubble Boy (film), Spank (The Abbey, Orlando), Prison Dancer (St. Clements), Outlaws (McGinn-Cazale), and Gorilla Man (P.S. 122). As the associate designer of Aladdin on Broadway, Sky has also been responsible for re-creating the design for productions in London, Tokyo, Sydney, Hamburg and the US tour. Also as associate designer on Broadway: Pretty Woman, Escape to Margaritaville, Tuck Everlasting, Side Show, Legally Blonde, The Drowsy Chaperone, Cyrano deBergerac, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Film/ TV: Saturday Night Live, Royal Pains, Smash, and Ocean's Eight.
TOMMY KURZMAN (Wig/Hair Design) is thrilled to be here for his first show at The Cape! He recently designed makeup for: Broadway: All My Sons, True West, St. Joan, My Fair Lady, The Parisian Woman, The Little Foxes, Long Day’s Journey into Night, in addition to Bright Star, Fiddler on the Roof and Thérese Raquin. Hair Design credits include: The Cake (MTC), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Sig. VA), Candide, Pushkin, La Cenerentola (MSM), Desperate Measures (NWS/York), Chess (DC) White Snake & Jazz (BCS). Tommy has been the Associate Hair Designer on over 15 Broadway Productions upon graduating from College in 2012. He also has built many wigs/pieces for Film/TV. Tommy is also a member of Local 798. He is represented by Summit Entertainment Group.
MATT LENZ (Director) is happy to be back at The Cape Playhouse having directed Sylvia here last season, and Art in 2017.
BROADWAY: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, The Velocity of Autumn (Associate Director on original productions), Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Resident Director). OFF-BROADWAY:Pageant: The Musical (Drama Desk nomination), The Irish Curse (Soho Playhouse), Idaho! The Comedy Musical, The Great Daisy Theory, Fingers and Toes, and Alan Ball’s Tense Guy. NATIONAL TOURS: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Sound of Music, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Cheers: Live Onstage, Catch Me If You Can, The Who’s Tommy and Hairspray. Lenz also directed productions of Hairspray in South Africa; U.K.; Toronto; Las Vegas; and Germany. REGIONAL:Numerous plays and musicals at Paper Mill Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, the MUNY, Ogunquit Playhouse, Cape Playhouse, North Carolina Theatre, Maltz Jupiter Theater, Zach Theatre, Gulfshore Playhouse, Casa Manana, Gateway Playhouse, Short North Stage, Forestburgh Playhouse, and Stamford Center for the Arts. Lenz is a member of SDC and a teaching artist with the Broadway Dreams Foundation.www.mattlenzdirector.com
JARON HERMANSEN (Lighting Design) Jaron is Salt Lake City based lighting & projection designer, among his credits are: Clue, Altar Boyz, Steel Magnolias, Art, RED, The Foreigner, Murder for Two (The Cape Playhouse, MA). The Music Man, Wizard of Oz, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Fiddler on the Roof (Sundance Eccles Theater, UT). Eleemosynary (The Brooks, CA). The King’s Men, Private Ear, Hedda Gabler, The Weird Play (Rose Wagner, UT). Bride of Frankenstein, Sonder, A Streetcar Named Desire (Found Spaces, UT). THE BRIDGE (Kingsbury Hall, UT). Jaron sits on the Board of Directors for the United States Institute of Theater Technology Intermountain Desert Region, Jaron is a lecturer at Utah Valley University, and is a nominee of the USITT Young Professionals Rising Star award.
JOSEPH PALERMO (Sound Design) Joseph Palermo is a Chicago based Sound Designer and Digital Technologist who is quite pleased to be here for your listening pleasure. He’s been recognized at the Cannes Film Festival, the Chicago Merit Awards, and University of Glasgow for excellence in Design and Design Concepts. His next projects include the rest of The Cape Playhouses’ season, Cambodian Rock Band at The City Theatre and The Merrimack Theatre, and The Polar Express with Warner Brothers and Amtrak. His most recent creative obsessions include recording things in an underwater environment,and applying the concepts of Quantum Physics to composition.Joseph is a proud member of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association.
JAMES O. HANSEN (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be making his Cape Playhouse debut! Recent credits include: On Your Feet! (Gateway Playhouse), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Resident Theatre Company), Beauty and the Beast (Gateway); Flashdance: The Musical (Gateway). Other credits include: Joseph...Dreamcoat, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Beauty and the Beast and Beehive all at Theatre by the Sea. James earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts Management from Dean College in Franklin, MA. Many thanks to the Creative Team, Cast and Crew! Special thanks to his family and Gabby for their love and support! JOHansenPSM.com
CASSIE MCKAY (Assistant Stage Manager) Cassie grew up on the Cape, and is a current sophomore pursuing a BFA in Stage Management from Point Park University. Past credits include: Student Choreography Project, Raymond Laine Memorial One Acts (Pittsburgh Playhouse); Evita, Showboat, La Cage aux Folles, Newsies (Interlakes Summer Theatre); Oklahoma (Cotuit Center for the Arts); and Detective Sketches, Big Fish, Once on This Island, A Wrinkle in Time, The Love of Three Oranges (Sturgis Charter Public School). Thank you to her friends and family for their support, and to the Cape Playhouse for the opportunity to work on incredible theatre. Enjoy the show!
CAROLINE PASTORE (Assistant Stage Manager) is incredibly excited to be joining The Cape Playhouse team this summer! Caroline lives in Shelburne, VT and was a Stage Manager for FlynnArts for five years. Some of the productions she worked on there include: Cry- Baby, Cabaret and Once on This Island. She currently attends SUNY Purchase as a Theatre Design/Technology student and worked on We’re Gonna Be Okay this year as the Assistant Stage Manager. Caroline would like to thank the Cape Playhouse team for being so welcoming and her family and teachers for all their support.
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