THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Will Be Performed at Centerstage Theatre This Month

Join Centerstage in a world of manners and mischief as Centerstage Theatre opens its production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Knutzen Family Theatre! This glorious comedy is a classic for a reason: it's perfect entertainment in any era. Multiple types of comedy blend seamlessly to bring laughs to everyone watching as the witticisms, misconceptions, and gambles add up. This show is a must for anyone who has been looking for a good laugh!

The show opens Friday, August 27th, and runs through Sunday, September 19th. Shows will take place on the following dates and times: Friday, August 27th at 7:30 pm; Saturday, August 28th at 7:30pm; Sunday, August 29th at 2:00pm; Friday, September 3rd at 7:30 pm; Saturday, September 4th at 7:30pm; Sunday, September 5th at 2:00pm; Friday, September 10th at 7:30pm; Saturday, September 11th at 7:30pm; Sunday, September 12th at 2:00pm; Friday, September 17th at 7:30pm; Saturday, September 18th at 7:30 pm; Sunday, September 19th at 2:00 pm. In addition, the theatre is offering livestreamed performances during the shows on: Saturday August 28th at 7:30 pm; Sunday September 5th at 2:00 pm; Sunday September 12th at 2:00 pm; Saturday September 18th at 7:30 pm.

The Importance of Being Earnest cast features Paul Richter as Algernon Moncrieff and Frank Roberts as Jack Worthing. Both gentlemen have been seen around the South Sound for a few seasons, onstage and off, in shows such as Tacoma Arts Live's Shakespeare in Love and Tacoma Little Theatre's Holmes for the Holidays and active in new works workshops. An audience favorite from her turn as a hard-drinking Broadway lyricist with a penchant for a dramatic faint in The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, COLLEEN BJURNSTROM plays Cecily Cardew. Completing our young lovers in the role of Gwendolen Fairfax is ROBIN MAE BECAR, a prolific Pacific Northwest actress whose previous performance in The Hound of the Baskervilles earned glowing reviews. Taking on the roles the Reverend Chasuble and Miss Prism are husband and wife team VINCE and SALLY BRADY, last seen onstage at Centerstage in Dead Man's Cell Phone in 2018. Both have appeared in dozens of productions, as well as commercials and television shows, both in the United States and in Great Britain. HENRY T. DORSET, beloved for his spot-on portrayals of over-the-top characters all over the South Sound, portrays both Lane and Merriman, the much-put-upon menservants to Algernon and Jack. Completing the cast is a Centerstage treasure: ROSALIE HILBURN, whose work at this particular theatre dates back decades, and whose portrayal of the Good Fairy in the very first Holiday Pantomime helped to cement that tradition as an annual must-see for Federal Way, plays the iconic Lady Bracknell. Rosalie has been away from Centerstage for too long, and the theater is delighted to have her.

The show is directed by JOHN VREEKE, a prolific director whose work has been seen around the country, most notably at the award-winning Wooly Mammoth Theatre in Washington DC. Vreeke last worked for Centerstage on Dead Man's Cell Phone. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers union. Stage management is by Centerstage veteran MO MONIZ; Moniz is a graduate of the stage management program at Cornish in Seattle. The twist-on-a-classic costumes are designed by RENAE RAGUDO, lights and projections are by CWA Professor CHRISTINA BARRIGAN, and scenic artistry and props are by local interior designer and business owner JEFF WALLACE JR. Technical elements will be overseen by Aaron Mohs-Hale, a lighting designer and technical director who has worked all over the Tacoma area previously.

This witty, layered show is a classic for a reason! Oscar Wilde's masterpiece truly is as applicable now as it was when first written. Jack and his best friend Algernon have no desire to keep social obligations and no patience for boredom. Their plan to avoid the tedium of being themselves is to become other people entirely! The two young men proceed to make up entirely fictitious personae - both named Ernest - and live their lives under this new name. Everything is well and good, until they both fall in love with women who have sworn only to marry a man named Ernest. In the face of lovestruck but silly ladies, a prudish governess, and a sharp-tongued matriarch, can they keep up the deception? Will they even want to?

TICKET PRICES: $31 for adults; $27 for seniors/military; $15 for ages 18 - 23; $12 ages 17 & under. Per ticket Facility Use Fees apply.

Tickets available online at www.CenterstageTheatre.com or by phone: (253) 661-1444.

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