[Capdist-auditions] Auditions for Classic Theater Guild's production of The Importance of Being Earnest

[Karen Christina Jones]

[image: Inline image 1]

*The Importance of Being Earnest*
*A Trivial Comedy for Serious People*
*by *
*Oscar Wilde*

*directed by Karen Christina Jones*



Before the advent of social media, misunderstandings were constructed
verbally.  Face to face insults were rampant and  the cat and mouse
verbiage between the sexes is a labyrinth.  Wilde's comedy of manners traps
his characters in their own words to mirror society's own pretensions.

*Auditions will be on Thursday, November 13th at 7.00pm and Saturday,
November 15th at Noon at 137 State Street, Schenectady.  Please prepare a
(2) two minute monologue. *
*Production dates will be January 30th-February 8th 2015*
*at the Historic Proctors Theater*

*People of Color and All Ages are encouraged to audition *


*Character Descriptions*

*John (Jack) Worthing* A young, eligible bachelor about town. In the city
he goes by the name Ernest, and in the country he is Jack a local
magistrate of the county with responsibilities. His family pedigree is a
mystery, but his seriousness and sincerity are evident. He proposes to The
Honorable Gwendolen Fairfax and, though leading a double life, eventually
demonstrates his conformity to the Victorian moral and social standards.

*Algernon Moncrieff* A languid poser of the leisure class, bored by
conventions and looking for excitement. He, too, leads a double life, being
Algernon in the city and Ernest in the country. Algernon, unlike Jack, is
not serious and is generally out for his own gratification. He falls in
love and proposes to Jack's ward, Cecily, while posing as Jack's wicked
younger brother, Ernest.

*Lady Bracknell* The perfect symbol of Victorian earnestness — the belief
that style is more important than substance and that social and class
barriers are to be enforced. Lady Bracknell is Algernon's aunt trying to
find a suitable wife for him. A strongly opinionated matriarch, dowager,
and tyrant, she believes wealth is more important than breeding and bullies
everyone in her path. Ironically, she married into the upper class from
beneath it. She attempts to bully her daughter, Gwendolen.

*The Honorable Gwendolen Fairfax* Lady Bracknell's daughter, exhibiting
some of the sophistication and confidence of a London socialite, believes
style to be important, not sincerity. She is submissive to her mother in
public but rebels in private. While demonstrating the absurdity of such
ideals as only marrying a man named Ernest, she also agrees to marry Jack
despite her mother's disapproval of his origins.

*Cecily Cardew* Jack Worthing's ward, daughter of his adopted father, Sir
Thomas Cardew. She is of debutante age, 18, but she is being tutored at
Jack's secluded country estate by Miss Prism, her governess. She is
romantic and imaginative, and feeling the repression of Prism's rules. A
silly and naïve girl, she declares that she wants to meet a "wicked man."
Less sophisticated than Gwendolen, she falls in love with Algernon but
feels he would be more stable if named Ernest.

*Miss Prism* Cecily's governess and a symbol of Victorian moral
righteousness. She is educating Cecily to have no imagination or
sensationalism in her life. Quoting scripture as a symbol of her Victorian
morality, she reveals a secret life of passion by her concern for the
whereabouts of her misplaced novel and her flirtation with the local vicar.
She becomes the source of Jack's revelation about his parents.

*Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.* Like Miss Prism, he is the source of Victorian
moral judgments, but under the surface he appears to be an old lecher. His
sermons are interchangeable, mocking religious conventions. Like the
servants, he does what Jack (the landowner) wants: performing weddings,
christenings, sermons, funerals, and so on. However, beneath the religious
exterior, his heart beats for Miss Prism.

*Lane and Merriman* Servants of Algernon and Jack. Lane says soothing and
comforting things to his employer but stays within the neutral guidelines
of a servant. He is leading a double life, eating sandwiches and drinking
champagne when his master is not present. He aids and abets the lies of
Algernon. Merriman keeps the structure of the plot working: He announces
people and happenings. Like Lane, he does not comment on his "betters," but
solemnly watches their folly. His neutral facial expressions during crisis
and chaos undoubtedly made the upper-class audience laugh.

*For more information call 518-227-0154 <518-227-0154> or e-mail
statestreet2424 at gmail.com <statestreet2424 at gmail.com>*
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