THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST to Open Moonbox Production's 2013-2014 Season, 11/22-12/14

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde's a comedy of good manners, bad manners, and all manner of things in between,kicks off Moonbox Production's 2013-14 season, November 22 - December 14 (Press Performance Sunday, November 24 at 2pm) at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street in Boston's South End. Performances are Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30pm (no performance Thanksgiving), Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $35 ($30 for students/seniors) plus fees. For tickets call Boston Theatre Scene Box Office at 617-933-8600 or online at www.bostontheatrescene.com. For more company information visit www.moonbox.org.

Gwendolen (Cat Claus) loves Ernest, and he loves her. Cecily loves Ernest too, though he's only just finding that out. But is it a lover's triangle, or is there room for two happy couples in Oscar Wilde's madcap romance-and what will fearsome Lady Bracknell (Ed Peed) have to say about it? This quintessential comedy of proper manners, by the quintessential bad boy of his day, includes mislaid babies, mistaken identities, secret engagements, baffled suitors, and some of the wittiest wordplay ever volleyed over cucumber sandwiches.

IRNE and Elliot Norton Award-nominated director Allison Choat will direct what Wilde dubbed his "trivial comedy for serious people." Explaining the company's choice, she says, "At the risk of being trite, I suppose I'd have to say I want to do this show because it's a great piece of comic art - but I'm only going to attempt it because I think we have the people necessary bring it to life in a way it deserves. Reading through Earnest gives you a wonderful sense of its complex language, its keen wit, its clever circumstances and contrivances. But all that language is nothing without an intelligent, and above all, vital, group of interpreters - and I can't believe our good fortune in finding a cast that fits that bill so exactly."

The cast (alpha order) includes Catherine Lee Christie (Miss Prism); Cat Claus (Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax); Gabriel Graetz (Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.) Poornima Kirby (Cecily Cardew); Glen Moore (Algernon Moncrieff); Ray O'Hare (Merriman); Ed Peed (Lady Bracknell), Andrew Winson (John Worthing, J.P.), and Matthew Zahnzinger (Lane). The design/creative team includes IRNE-award winning musical director and composer Dan Rodriguez (original music), John Devlin (Set Designer), Jeffrey E. Salzberg (Lighting Designer) and SusAnne Miller (Costume Designer).

Moonbox Productions was founded in 2011 by Producer/Artistic Director Sharman Altshuler. It is based in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is dedicated to supporting local arts and local artists, and to connecting communities to the non-profit organizations that serve them. To fulfill our artistic mission, Moonbox taps the deep well of talent within our own communities to bring top quality theatrical experiences to stages throughout the greater Boston area. To fulfill our social mission, we partner with a local non-profit organization for each show, giving them visibility on our website and in our promotional materials, as well as giving them access to our audiences in order to raise awareness of their cause, create connections within the community, and increase the reach and impact of their work. Moonbox Productions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Photo by: Sharman Altshuler

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