SUBMITTED BY HORIZON YOUTH THEATRE
Horizon Youth Theatre is proud to present a staged reading of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, directed by Keith Guion. Performances are Friday, June 21 and Saturday, June 22 at 7:00 pm at the Star Style Theatre (located within the former Cinemark movie theater), Woodland Mall, 1234 N. Main St. in Bowling Green. Admission is by donation.
Discussing the unusual addition to HYT’s season, Guion states in a director’s note:
Our Earnest adventure began few years ago when some HYT students discovered the play The Importance of Being Earnest, read it and fell in love with it. They started talking about how much they wanted to be in a production of the play. About a year ago, [HYT President] Liz and I had a conversation about this. Liz wanted to offer a Readers Theatre production, and I told her that Earnest was well suited for Readers Theatre. So I offered to direct the play this summer. By this time some of the students who wanted to be in this play had graduated from high school, so, officially they were no longer eligible to perform with Horizon Youth Theatre. I suggested that we could bend the rules a bit for this production and include the alumni. So we did, along with recent graduates and high school students. I have been surprised by the number of people who have told me that this play is also their favorite. Most of the humor in Earnest is in the text; very witty, clever and funny. The play can be enjoyed without a set, costumes or props. So here we are to share Oscar Wilde’s brilliant play in a Readers Theatre format, spoken in a British dialect. We hope you enjoy this comedy as much as we enjoy bringing it to you. And when it’s over, we will all come to understand the importance of being earnest.
The cast, in order of appearance:
Lane / Merriman – Fox Roberts-Zibbel
Algernon Moncrief – Xander Sands
John Worthing – Leonid Roberts-Zibbel
Lady Augusta Bracknell – Violet Grossman
Gwendolen Fairfax – Reagan Otley
Cecily Cardew – Alice Walters
Miss Prism – Huxley Beard
Rev. Canon Chasuble – Rory Mott
HYT would like to extend special thanks to Julie’s Dance Studio; and to Tim Barker for producing the show.
