The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

August 4 - 20, 2023

Avoiding an unwanted social engagement? Two bachelors have found way out! Gallivanting under the false identity of “Earnest,” “bunburying” is the perfect solution to avoiding one's duties and responsibilities by claiming to have appointments to see a fictitious person. But their convoluted schemes of trivial deception and disguise become the delights of fools when they fall for two women who only love men named Earnest. Are romantic engagements possible if they avoid their true identity? Farcical fun abounds in one of the funniest comedies in the English language, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, dubiously dubbed “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.”

Tora Nogami Alexander*

Darnell Pierre Benjamin*

Reverend Canon Chasuble

Burgess Byrd*

Miss Prism

Billy Chace*

Lane/ Merriman

Jeremy Dubin*

John "Jack" Worthing/Ernest

James Evans*

Algernon "Algy" Moncrieff

Kelly Mengelkoch*

Gwendolen Fairfax

Christine Pedi*

Lady Bracknell

Brian Isaac Phillips+
Director

Lindsey Augusta Mercer
Assistant Director

Samantha Reno
Scenic Designer

Rainy Edwards
Costume Designer

Watson
Lighting Designer

Kevin Semancik
Sound Designer

Kara Eble Trusty
Properties Designer

Cole Sweasy*
Production Stage Manager

Abby Sherr
Assistant Stage Manager

Kate Bindus
Production Manager

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

+Member of SDC

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde