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Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ comes to Muskingum Park

By Gwen Sour 4 min read

MARIETTA -- Marietta College will trade Shakespeare for Oscar Wilde when its outdoor theater program opens "The Importance of Being Earnest" on Thursday evening at the Muskingum Park gazebo.

The free production marks the college's first venture into a non-Shakespearian play in the park that is not a musical, director Casiha Felt said. Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Sept. 17, 18 and 19.

Felt said the theater program's established audience gave it an opportunity to expand while continuing to present classical, family-friendly entertainment.

"We have maybe bought ourselves the opportunity to branch out and expose our audience to something fresh and new," Felt said. "Still a classic, still family friendly and really in the same vein as the type of entertainment we've always provided in the Shakespeare in the Park."

First performed in 1895, Wilde's three-act comedy follows Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, two men who use false identities as they pursue Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. Their deceptions lead to romantic complications and a series of misunderstandings as the play satirizes Victorian society, marriage and social expectations.

Although the production retains the play's original three-act structure, Felt said its running time is less than two hours. Its period setting, rapid comedy and British dialects presented challenges during the college's condensed early-return rehearsal schedule.

The students were cast before leaving for the summer and received their scripts after the college's previous production closed. Cast members studied their lines during the summer and participated in several virtual meetings before returning to campus two weeks ahead of the start of classes.

"It is another time period, another country, another dialect and/or accent," Felt said. "The comedy pushes farce. There were a lot of things that make this play a difficult play."

Once the cast returned, rehearsals included table work, dialect training, blocking and detailed scene work. Some days involved about eight hours of acting, said Nathan Sloan, who plays Jack.

"Having to do eight-hour days is a lot, especially when it's all acting. A lot of standing, a lot of talking," Sloan said. "But I enjoyed the process. It was just kind of fun doing it that fast."

Sloan described Jack as someone who cares deeply about the people and circumstances in his life but becomes upset when his plans are disrupted. He said developing that personality has been one of the most enjoyable parts of rehearsals.

"Exploring the character, figuring out who he is and actually basically becoming that character is really fun," Sloan said.

Kline Howell plays Algernon, Jack's mischievous friend who becomes suspicious of Jack's double life.

"Anything he can do to upset Jack is like a win for him," Howell said. "From the get-go, he's just trying to get on his nerves."

Howell said the cast spent its first week working on the script and the Received Pronunciation dialect used in the production before beginning blocking and scene work.

"I like doing the accents and running around like a crazy person because that's what Algernon does the entire time," Howell said. "I also get to eat a lot during the show, which is nice."

Jazmyn Taylor plays Gwendolen Fairfax, Jack's confident love interest.

"She's a girl who knows what she wants, and she's very confident in that," Taylor said. "She takes what she wants because she knows that she deserves it. She has a lot of attitude -- very spunky."

Taylor said performing the original three-act version offered a new experience after previously appearing primarily in one- and two-act productions. She said the cast completed blocking within several days before moving quickly into scene work and polishing the production.

Felt, who teaches dialects at Marietta College, worked with the cast on Received Pronunciation, traditionally associated with standard British English. She said the process incorporated the International Phonetic Alphabet to help the actors understand and reproduce the necessary sounds.

Several cast members are enrolled in Felt's dialects course this fall, allowing them to apply classroom lessons directly to their performances.

"That kind of educational loop is always optimal -- that they can take what they learn in class and apply it on stage," Felt said.

No performance is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12, because of the Ohio River Sternwheel Festival fireworks. Felt said she hopes the production will give festival visitors another entertainment option during their time in Marietta.

"If they are at the Sternwheel Festival for a couple of nights, we'd really love to be alternate programming," Felt said. "You have one night where you go see the fireworks or live music, but if you have another night where you want to do something a little different, then come sit under the stars and watch some free theater."

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