"The Importance of Being Earnest" Play Needs Actors
Auditions are now open for production of Oscar Wilde’s "The Importance of Being Earnest". Seeking actors. ONLY LOCAL TALENT WILL BE CONSIDERED. See the details below. About the project: SYNOPSIS: Jack Worthing, a carefree young gentleman, is the inventor of a fictitious brother, “Ernest,” whose wicked ways afford John an excuse to leave his country home from time to time and journey to London, where he stays with his close friend and confidant, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon has a cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax, with whom John is deeply in love. During his London sojourns, John, under the name Ernest, has won Gwendolen’s love, for she strongly desires to marry someone with the confidence-inspiring name of Ernest. But when he asks for Gwendolen’s hand from the formidable Lady Bracknell, 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 and her governess Miss Prism, John finds that Algernon has also arrived under the identity of the nonexistent brother Ernest. Algernon falls madly in love with the beautiful Cecily, who has long been enamored of the mysterious, fascinating brother Ernest. With the arrival of Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen, chaos erupts. After a series of witty back and forth and startling reveals, the evening unfolds to the benefit of all! Rate: Each actor will receive a weekly salary of $125 a week during rehearsals, up to the week of tech and show. Additional info: At this time, directors can only accommodate non-equity performers for this production. In person callback: on Tuesday, January 28th, starting at 6pm. You may be called back later in the evening depending on your role, in order to respect everyone’s time. If you are called back, you will receive a side by January 22nd. Performances: April 3-7. If you are interested, please apply.
8 roles
Male presenting. Mild mannered most of the time, he is kind, caring, and easily annoyed and flustered. He has no idea of his childhood history but takes immense pride in being a mostly honest upstanding gentleman of renown. He owns a house in the country and travels frequently.
Female presenting. Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest and says she will not marry a man without that name.
Female presenting. Jack’s ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play, and engages in witty banter with expertise. She is entirely self assured, and believes in whimsical things but does not treat them whimsically. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness.
Female or Male presenting, Male will be portrayed in drag if cast. Algernon’s snobbish, mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen’s mother. Her primary goal in life is to see her daughter marry well. She has a list of “eligible young men” and a prepared interview she gives to potential suitors. Like her nephew, Lady Bracknell is given to making hilarious pronouncements, but where Algernon means to be witty, the humor in Lady Bracknell’s speeches is unintentional.
Female presenting. Cecily’s governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of pedantic bromides and clichés. She highly approves of Jack’s presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his “unfortunate” brother. Puritan though she is, Miss Prism’s severe pronouncements have a way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter. Despite her rigidity, Miss Prism seems to have a softer side. Also, she entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.
Male presenting. Sweet and bumbling. Dr. Chasuble is very committed to being a man of God, however, he cannot hide his love and pining for Miss Prism, whom is always mischievously trying to whisk away alone. He cares very much for Jack and all around him, but seems a bit ignorant of the more specific goings on in his home.
(Doubles with Chasuble): The dry and sarcastic servant of Algernon. While he is fiercely loyal, and goes along with all of Algernon’s antics, Lane also understands that he is under appreciated and sometimes treated poorly.
RELATED CASTING CALLS
