Monday, June 23

Date and time
Monday, June 23 · 7 – 9:30 pm EDT
Unique Script-In-Hand Performance!
Followed by a scintillating Post Show Discussion!

Location
The Players
16 Gramercy Park South
New York, NY 10003
(20th Street between Park and Third Avenues)

Our Brilliant Cast! (Soon to be revealed)
John Worthing
Algernon Moncrieff
Rev Canon Chausble DD
Merriman
Lane
Lady Bracknell
Hon Gwendolen Fairfax
Cecily Cardew
Miss Prism

DIRECTED BY  MARCIA MILGROM DODGE

READ THE PLAY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893) and An Ideal Husband (1895). First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James’s Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy depicting the tangled affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, both assuming the name Ernest while wooing the two young women of their affections.

The play, celebrated for its wit and repartee, parodies contemporary dramatic norms, gently satirises late Victorian manners, and introduces – in addition to the two pairs of young lovers – the formidable Lady Bracknell, the fussy governess Miss Prism and the benign and scholarly Canon Chasuble. Contemporary reviews in Britain and overseas praised the play’s humour, although some critics had reservations about its lack of social messages.

The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde’s career but was followed within weeks by his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde’s lover, unsuccessfully schemed to throw a bouquet of rotten vegetables at the playwright at the end of the performance. This feud led to a series of legal trials from March to May 1895 which resulted in Wilde’s conviction and imprisonment for homosexual acts. Despite the play’s early success, Wilde’s disgrace caused it to be closed in May after 86 performances. After his release from prison in 1897 he published the play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no more comic or dramatic works.

ALL GENERAL SEATING!

For reserved VIP seating please phone the Gingold office: 212.355.7823

ALL OF PROJECT SHAW EVENTS ARE UNIQUE SCRIPT-IN-HAND PERFORMANCES!