THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST - Ft Worth, TX EPA
Allied Theatre Group Inc | Fort Worth, TX
Saturday, September 16, 2023
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM (C)
To set up an audition appointment please go to:
https://tinyurl.com/4h6rbtcj.
SPT
$576 weekly minimum (SPT 6)
Equity actors for roles in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (See breakdown).
Please be prepared to cold read from sides that will be provided the morning of the audition. Also, please bring your headshot and resume stapled together.
Stage West Theatre
821 W Vickery Blvd
Fort Worth, TX 76104-1144
Written by: Oscar Wilde
Expected to attend:
Director: Joel Ferrell
Executive Producer: Dana Schultes
Associate Producer: Garret Storms
EPA also on 9/17
Callbacks: Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 6:00 PM
1st Rehearsal: Monday, August 12, 2024.
Performances: Thursday, September 5, 2024 - Sunday, September 22, 2024
Rehearsal schedule is Monday - Fridays 6:30-11PM, Saturdays 1-5PM and 6:30-9:30PM with Sundays off. Times are subject to change. Performances: Thursdays at 7:30PM, Fridays at 8:00PM, Saturdays at 2:00PM AND 8:00PM, and Sundays at 2:00PM and 7:30PM
OTHER
stagewest.org
Venue: Stage West, 821 W Vickery Blvd.
An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of this audition.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of
inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition. Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
Actors of all ethnicities and gender identities are encouraged to audition. In reference to the character descriptions below, most characters we encounter currently are on the binary and are written with he/him or she/her pronouns and you will see that in the following descriptions. But how ever limiting the descriptions are, our casting seeks to be as inclusive as possible and we invite gender non-conforming, genderqueer, transgender and non-binary actors to audition for the roles they most identify with. We will also list race/ethnicity when specific to the character but are otherwise seeking all races and ethnicities. Let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or if there are any accommodations we can provide (Language developed by Kevin Kantor and Emily Tarquin from the Actors Theatre of Louisville).
SYNOPSIS: So, there are these two rich and eligible English bachelors. Both are pretending to be a man named Ernest, because they are trying to woo these two ladies who have decided they are all about that name. But when their romantic schemes collide, the whole charade unravels in a whirlwind of wacky surprises and dazzling wit. This classic comedy of courtship and manners is a masterpiece of social satire for all who appreciate the humbling folly of falling in love.
JOHN (JACK/ERNEST) WORTHING, J.P. - he/him; late 20s - early 30s; Any Ethnicity; a seemingly responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In the country, where he has an estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Ernest. As a baby, Jack was discovered in a handbag by an old man who adopted him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in love with his friend Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name indicate that he is a Justice of the Peace.
ALGERNON MONCRIEFF - he/him; late 20s - early 30s; Any Ethnicity; a charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, amoral, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements. He has invented a fictional friend, Bunbury, an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations.
GWENDOLEN FAIRFAX - she/her; late 20s; Any Ethnicity; 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.
CECILY CARDEW - she/her; early 20s; Any Ethnicity; 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. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea, rather than the virtuous-sounding name, has prompted her to fall in love with Jack's brother Ernest in her imagination and to invent an elaborate romance and courtship between them.
MISS PRISM - she/her; 40s - 60s; Any Ethnicity; 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. She speaks of having once written a novel whose manuscript was lost or abandoned. Also, she entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.
REV. CANON CHASUBLE, D.D. - he/him; 50s - 60s; Any Ethnicity; the rector on Jack's estate. Both Jack and Algernon approach Dr. Chasuble to request that they be christened Ernest. Dr. Chasuble entertains secret romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials after his name stand for Doctor of Divinity.
LANE / MERRIMAN - he/him; 30s - 60s; Any Ethnicity; Lane is Algernon's manservant. When the play opens, Lane is the only person who knows about Algernon's practice of Bunburying. Lane appears only in Act I; Merriman is the butler at the Manor House, Jack's estate in the country. Merriman appears only in Acts II and III.
LADY BRACKNELL - HAS BEEN CAST. she/her; 50s - 60s; Any Ethnicity; Algernon's snobbish, mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen's mother. Lady Bracknell married well, and her primary goal in life is to see her daughter do the same. 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. She is cunning, narrow-minded, authoritarian, and possibly the most quotable character in the play.
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