Cecily, played by Alyssa Truesdale, shows Gwendolyn, played by Catherine Wilford, her diary entry describing her proposal from Ernest in the Lee Theatre production of "The Importance of Being Earnest," opening this weekend.IF YOU GO• What: "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Lee Theatre.• When: Oct. 3-11.• Where: Blackbox Theatre, Communication Arts Building, Church Street, Cleveland, Tenn.• Admission: $10 adults, $7 children, seniors and students.• Phone: 423-614-8343 (box office).• Email: theatre@leeuniversity.edu.• Website: www.leeuniversity.edu/theatre.
The 2014-15 theater season at Lee University will be a "Season of Secrets," and each of the four plays will deliver on that theme.
First up:
• Secret identities: The 25th anniversary season opens Friday, Oct. 3, with "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde. Directed by Dr. Christine Williams, associate professor of theater, the play will be performed in the Buzz Oates Theatre in the new Communication Arts Building on the Cleveland, Tenn., campus.
"The Importance of Being Earnest" features two men, each falsely claiming the name Ernest and an earnest disposition. In addition, the cast includes two women, each in love with her earnest Ernest, a forgetful nanny, a humorous matriarch and various others.
Still to come:
• Family secrets: Opening Nov. 7, Arthur Miller's "All My Sons," based on a true story during World War II.
• Secret agents: Opening Feb. 20, "The 39 Steps," a drama by Patrick Barlow that is reminiscent of 1940s spy novels and Hitchcock films.
• Secret sanctuary: Opening April 10, a musical version of "The Secret Garden" by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon, a collaboration between the theater program and the School of Music.
Tickets will be available at the box office from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the week leading up to each show and one hour before curtain time each evening. For the first three shows, tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for children, seniors and students. Tickets for the "The Secret Garden" will be $15 for adults, $12 for children, seniors and students.