The Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will take its production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” on the road in January after being invited to perform at the American College Theatre Festival in Michigan. But before they go, the show will be staged free of charge for the Stevens Point community.
“The Importance of Being Earnest,” Oscar Wilde’s satire of Victorian society, morality and religion, will be presented for one night only on Friday, January 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Noel Fine Arts Center Jenkins Theater as a thank you to the community. While the show is free, tickets will be required and may be picked up at the University Information and Tickets office in the Dreyfus University Center concourse, by calling 715-346-4100 or at http://tickets.uwsp.edu.
The production will be staged at the festival in Saginaw, Mich., on January 8–12, having been selected as one of six from universities across four states. It will be performed in the Temple Theatre, a restored circa 1927 vaudeville house, with the entire production and a company of
31 actors, designers, technicians and managers traveling to Saginaw as a bus and truck tour. The play’s intricate scenic, lighting, sound and projection work, originally staged in Jenkins Theatre in October, will be transferred to the new performance space.
In addition, three actors in the production have been nominated for the festival’s Irene Ryan acting scholarship competition. Mona Maclay of Richland Center, John Ford-Dunker of Fargo, N.D., and Ameara Wahhab of Greendale will be competing against over 300 actors from the four-state region for the scholarship. All of the student designers and managers working on the production were also nominated for the regional competition in their various areas of specialization including costume, sound, lighting and properties design. The designers and Irene Ryan actors are eligible to progress to the national American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C.
The Department of Theatre & Dance has enjoyed success in competing in the American College Theatre Festival for over three decades. In recent years, actress Maggie Raymond and sound designer Mercer Aplin won their regional competitions and advanced to the Kennedy Center. Maggie won a full-year paid internship at the renowned Actor’s Theatre of Louisville.
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