‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ to debut at Seminole State College
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Written by: Seminole State Staff
The Center for the Fine and Performing Arts at Seminole State College of Florida will present “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde as the penultimate performance of its 2018-19 theatre season. The show opens April 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Harriett’s Theatre (building G) on the College’s Sanford/Lake Mary Campus and continues April 6 and 11-13 at 7:30 p.m. There will be a talk-back after the Sunday productions, April 7 and 14 at 2 p.m., where the audience is encouraged to stay and ask questions to the actors regarding the play.
Wilde’s comic masterpiece was described by the London Telegraph as “the most perfect comedy in the English language.” Effervescent, the play sparks with dazzling word play and hilariously unlikely situations. Wilde takes aim at the norms of Victorian society in a classic confection filled with epigrams and wit, guaranteed to delight. The play was written and first produced in 1895, the year that Wilde was tried and jailed for “gross indecency.” Director Becky Lane notes, “Beyond the surface wit, Wilde weaves subtle nods to the gay community … I am nodding to the parallels between the dual identities held by our main characters and the LGBTQ communities of the 1960s.”
The College is presenting “The Importance of Being Earnest,” as part of its Remembering Stonewall Series of events, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. In the summer of 1969, the police raided the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village for operating without a liquor license. The Inn was patronized by members of the city's LGBTQ community. Members of the LGBTQ community launched a new wave of activism that challenged the constitutionality of anti-gay and anti-transgender laws through the court system. Leaders of the movement connected with other civil rights movements and built new organizations to support those who had been marginalized and to advocate for equal rights.
The Stonewall Uprising continues to serve as a symbol of the power of working together for civil rights even today. The year 2019 represents the 50th anniversary of this event and its call to activism.
“The Importance of Being Earnest” features Everton Spencer, Landon Clayton, Matthew Gennell, Nick Moffa, Lillian McGuiness, David Almeida, Chelsea Nelson, Cristina Felix and Mikaela Duffy.
Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and non-Seminole State students. The show is free for those with a Seminole State College ID. This program is recommended for mature audiences only. For reservations, call 407.708.2040, or visit seminolestate.edu/arts.
“The Importance of Being Earnest”
Harriett’s Theatre
Building G, Sanford/Lake Mary Campus
100 Weldon Blvd, Sanford, FL 32773
Performances:
April 5-7, 11–13 at 7:30 p.m.
April 7 & 14 at 2 p.m.
Seminole State’s Center for Fine and Performing Arts offers programs in art, music and theater as well as a wide variety of concerts, theatre productions, gallery exhibits and other cultural events. For more information about the Center, including calendars of all upcoming cultural events at Seminole State, visit seminolestate.edu/arts and follow them on Facebook.