Covenant College presents Oscar Wilde farce 'The Importance of Being Earnest'

William Darby as Jack Worthing, Will Payne as Lady Bracknell and Ana Gresham as Gwendolen Fairfax, from left. (Contributed Photo)
William Darby as Jack Worthing, Will Payne as Lady Bracknell and Ana Gresham as Gwendolen Fairfax, from left. (Contributed Photo)

Oscar Wilde's farce "The Importance of Being Earnest" will open Thursday, Feb. 15, for five performances in Sanderson Auditorium on the campus of Covenant College on Lookout Mountain.

The Covenant College Theatre Department will present the comedy at 8 p.m. Feb. 15-17 and Feb. 23, as well as 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24.

Camille Hallstrom is directing this play in which the protagonist maintains a fictitious persona to escape social obligations.

Jack Worthing, who will be played by William Darby, is a pillar of the community in Hertfordshire, where he is guardian to Cecily Cardew, the granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew, who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby.

Jack is a major landowner and justice of the peace, with tenants, farmers and a number of servants and other employees dependent on him. For years, he has pretended to have an irresponsible black-sheep brother named Ernest, who leads a scandalous life in pursuit of pleasure in London, which requires Jack to rush off at any time to get Earnest out of trouble.

Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff. When the play opens, Algernon, who knows Jack as Ernest, has begun to suspect something, having found an inscription inside Jack's cigarette case addressed to "Uncle Jack" from someone named "little Cecily."

Jonathan Austin is cast as Algernon and Ana Gresham is Gwendolen. Rounding out the cast are Will Payne, Caroline Sawyer, Emily Brauer, Matthias Overos and Mark Davis.

Tickets are $7 adults, $5 for children and students.

For more information: 706-419-1051.

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