Wilde’s brilliant comedy opens MC theater season

Release Date: September 27, 2005

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Monmouth College will open its 2005-2006 theater season with Oscar Wilde’s comic jewel, “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Performances are Oct. 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 9 at 2 p.m. at the college’s Wells Theater.

General admission tickets are $2 and may be reserved by contacting theater director Bill Wallace at 309-457-2374 or billw@monm.edu. Tickets will also be available at the door.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” originally opened on St. Valentine’s Day, 1895, in London’s St. James’s Theatre. The play was Wilde’s fourth popular West End play in only three years, with his “An Ideal Husband” opening only a month earlier and still playing to packed houses at the Haymarket Theatre just a few blocks away.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” depicts a world in which the best-kept secrets are the ones that everyone knows. What they also know is that their own existences are not as stable or as moral as they pretend to be, and that maintaining those fictions is vitally important.

In the play, John Worthing, played by sophomore Michael Heaton of Canton, is a carefree young gentleman who is the inventor of a fictitious brother, Earnest, whose wicked ways afford John an excuse to leave his country home from time to time and journey to London where he stays with a close friend and confidant.

During his London sojourns, John, posing as Earnest, wins the love of Gwendolen Fairfax, played by sophomore Ellen Ehrenhart of Springfield. When he asks for her hand from the formidable Lady Bracknell, however, John finds he must reveal he is a foundling who was left in a handbag at Victoria Station. This is very disturbing to Lady Bracknell, who insists that he produce at least one parent before she consents to the marriage.

Returning to the country home where he lives with his ward, Cecily Cardew, played by senior Lindsey Markel of Sidell, and her governess Miss Prism, played by sophomore Sara Youngs of Bloomingdale, John finds that Algernon Moncrieff, played by freshman Bryan Blanks of Kewanee, has also arrived under the identity of the nonexistent brother Earnest. Algernon falls madly in love with the beautiful Cecily, who has been long enamored of the mysterious, fascinating brother Earnest.

With the arrival of Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen, chaos erupts. It is discovered that Miss Prism is the absent-minded nurse who 20 years ago misplaced the baby of Lady Bracknell’s brother in Victoria Station. Thus John, whose name is indeed Earnest, is Algernon’s older brother, and the play ends with the two couples in a joyous embrace.

Also cast for the show are sophomore Gregory Malak of Orlando Park as Dr. Chausable, freshman Brian Rowe of Des Plaines as Lane, and freshman John McElligott of Freeport as Merriman.

Directing the play is Kat Koelbl, a student from Roscoe. Koelbl made her directing debut last spring with the Monmouth College production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” Now, as a senior, she will be directing “Earnest” as her final project for her major.

“This production is Ms. Koelbl’s opportunity to put into practice all she has learned,” said Wallace. “We are pleased to present this marvelous play which showcases the talents of our students.”

Sets and lighting design is by Doug Rankin, professor of communication and theater arts and the college’s resident technical director and designer. Costume design is by Tim Holmes, costume shop supervisor. Sophomores Leanna Wilson of Galesburg and Katie Liefke of Ripon, Wis., are serving as assistant directors.

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