The play opens on Apr. 10 at Gainesville State College's Ed Cabell Theatre.
Wilde's masterpiece is directed by resident director Elisa Carlson, who directed last year's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which led her to serving on the artistic staff at the world-renowned Guthrie Theatre in Minneonapolis, and coaching voice for professional productions in theatre and film across the country including more than 25 productions at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre.
For Earnest, GTA has brought in returning scenic designer B. Don Massey, who has done lighting design for numerous GTA productions, and costume designer Jeannie Crawford who created the costumes for GTA WonderQuest's James and the Giant Peach this past fall, as well as GTA's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Beaux' Stratagem among other productions.
"One of the challenges of staging Earnest," director Elisa Carlson explained, "is that the play was originally designed to be performed in a proscenium space, not with an audience on three sides of the stage," as is the case with the Ed Cabell Theatre.
"Yet because of how presentational Victorian England was at the time and how comically sincere Wilde's characters are it is almost an advantage to us," Carlson added. "Our audience gets to be silent guests in the room with Oscar, whose witticisms and flourishy barbs are spouted from every character on stage."
"It's a very light and funny play," scenic designer B. Don Massey remarked. "We want to stay within the period, but there are always certain liberties taken in theatre relying on the audiences keep senses of imagination to fill in the details."
As a result, Massey's unit set (with unchanging major walls) will transform from London flat to garden and then to manor drawing room with a change of props and backdrops that enables patrons to unconsciously change location with the characters.
Helping the student actors stay within the period of Victorian England is resident dramatist and period style virtuoso Gay Hammond, who will be playing the role of the daunting and formidable Lady Bracknell.
The Importance of Being Earnest opens on April 10, followed immediately by a free Opening Night Reception catered by Scotts on the Square, and runs through April 21. Tickets are $16-18 for adults, $14-16 for seniors and $10-12 for students. There is an $8 discounted preview performance on April 9.
Patrons can select their own seats on the website at www.gainesvilleTHEATREalliance.org or purchase tickets through the GTA Box Office from 10am to 4pm weekdays at 678-717-3624. MasterCard, Visa and Discover are accepted. ADA seating is available by calling the Box Office.
Brenau University senior James Taylor Odom and junior Catherine Councell are paired for a linguistic foxtrot in the Gainesville Theatre Alliance
http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/3/246957