TONIGHT: The Importance of Being Earnest

Streaming tonight at 7PM ET

Jul 31, 2020

Tonight’s the night! No Exit Theatre Collective presents THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, directed by director-in-residence Caitlyn McCain.

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Caitlyn McCain, will be performed today, July 31 at 7 p.m. on the No Exit Theatre Collective Facebook page. All shows in our Fortnightly Reading Series are abridged to run less than 90 minutes, with a Q&A with the artists to follow.

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is directed by Caitlyn McCain, director-in-residence. The cast will feature Paige Belcher as Jack Worthing, J.P., Katelyn Elliot as Algernon Moncrieff, Cameron Reese as Lane/Merriman, Marley Mathias as Lady Bracknell, José De La Rua as Gwendolen Fairfax, Emma Schwartz as Miss Prism, Renae Raymond as Cecily Cardew, Hannah Kulp as Rev. Canon Chasuble, Ryan Mahannah, Swing. Technical Directed by Zeynep Akca, co-artistic director. Script managed by Caity MacNeill.

Director’s note, from artist-in-residence Caitlyn McCain

When I directed Twelfth Night for No Exit Theatre Collective, I learned something very important - maybe even crucial - about directing meaningful theatre. I learned that when you bring a wide range of voices, experiences, identities, training backgrounds, acting techniques, passions, ideals and brains into a rehearsal room and ask those voices to approach the work from their unique perspectives, you end up with a story that is far more nuanced, more human and more entertaining than any singular director could create. So, I decided that this would be my approach to all of my directing endeavors: get the right artists in the room and let them lead the work.
In practice, this looks like me posing a few essential questions to the cast, diving into a discussion and then asking the cast to allow their answers to guide their work. For Earnest, the following questions were explored:
Are there any connections that you can draw between the world of this play and our current world?
What elements of your character do you identify with, and which elements are very different from you?
What element of your personal identity do you want maintained and celebrated in this play/role?
During our conversation as a cast, there were many potent moments of actors making personal connections to their characters and expressing similarities that were both surprising and exciting. But the questions and responses that interested me most and that had the most influence on our version of The Importance of Being Earnest were the similarities between our world and the world of the play. Although the play was first performed in 1895 and takes place in 1890s London, the play’s characters don’t feel that far from our own reality. Oscar Wilde wrote a high social comedy that satirizes the upper class. A class that is obsessed with image and manners and what is proper and who follows the rules and who does not. We often see the characters confidently make up ridiculous (and very detailed) social rules on the spot and then contradict themselves with the same assurance 2 lines later. We watch as these people put on a social show and play a character so convincingly that they themselves can no longer discern the difference between their authentic selves and the person that their class tells them to be… does this sound familiar? We thought so too.
These heightened personas are not unlike the roles we all play in our daily lives. The role we play on social media. The way we talk to the people we perceive as powerful and the way we talk to those we deem not. The role we play in a restaurant that we don’t feel fancy enough to be in. Or the role we play when we feel right at home. Just like Algernon and Jack and Gwendolen and Cecily, we play characters on dates, play up our best features. We put on a good show to impress and hide anything we feel might be anything less than earnest. And we make up the rules as we go because the society and its “rules” change far too often! Perhaps this is why we still laugh so loudly at this “perfect play,” because we recognize the act that these characters are working so hard to keep up and we love to acknowledge how absolutely ridiculous it is! After all, Oscar Wilde was a member of this class he so skillfully poked fun at. And what fun is life if you can’t laugh at yourself every once and awhile?

Honoring the activist roots of theatre and our artists is at the core of No Exit Theatre Collective. We seek to affect change with our work. With each production we put on, the creative team selects a social justice organization to support. Our support comes from our virtual tip jar, which is on Venmo @NoExit-TC.

This week, we will be supporting the Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance in San Bernardino, CA. RPYA is an LGBTQ+ mental health non-profit that promotes, advocates and offer’s support for/to LGBTQ+ youth and their families. In order to continue to support their community through the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has gone completely virtual.

“In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde was charged with 25 counts of ‘gross indecency’ and was sentenced to 2 years of hard labor. This same year, The Importance of Being Earnest had its premiere and due to the ‘scandal’ around Mr. Wilde, the play closed after only 86 performances. This reading serves as a celebration of Wilde, his work and his queerness.

“I specifically chose RPYA because it serves the LGBTQ+ community where I grew up in the Inland Empire,” said director-in-residence Caitlyn McCain.

Paige Belcher (pb) was born and raised in Boca Raton, FL. After earning their BFA at Florida Atlantic University and playing such roles as Arkadina in Michael Chekhov’s “The Seagull” and directing Stephen Adly Guirgis’ “In Arabia We’d All Be Kings," they moved to Chicago to pursue a life (any life) outside of Florida. They attended and graduated from the Second City Training Center’s improv conservatory, and went on to co-write, -produce and -star in a sketch show called “Tough Cookie and Ugly Ducklings” with their dear friend and fellow Floridian, Paula Harrington. Pb is currently using the pandemic to get deeply involved in local politics and to start creating a drag king persona. They aspire to make queerer and more ridiculous art with their friends for as long as they live.

Katelyn Elliott is beyond elated to join No Exit for their reading of "The Importance of Being Earnest." They graduated magna cum laude from Florida Atlantic University with a BFA in Performance and a Minor in French. This is their first performance in a while, but not the first time they’ve played a gentleman like Algernon Moncrieff. Katelyn is a gender-fluid actor (She/Her or They/Them) and hopes to one day be a founding member of an all-genders Shakespeare company. In her free time, Katelyn is an author, a seamstress, podcaster, and cat mom. They live with their fiancé in Orlando, FL.

Cameron "Cameron" Reese is a theatermaker going into his senior year at NYU. He looks forward to the day that he can play dads and grandfathers. Until then, he supplements acting with writing plays and writing the books of musicals with composer/lyricist RJ Christian.

Marley Mathias is a tri-state based actress and Senior Theatre Arts Major with a concentration in Acting at Drew University. She is ecstatic to be joining her friends at No Exit again for their production of "The Importance of Being Earnest!" Recently she played Maria and Second Officer in NETC’s production of Twelfth Night! Past roles include Sabine in Most Massive Woman Wins at Drew University, Donna in Spinning Out at Drew University, and Ines in Down Neck at Drew University. Some of her favorite roles include Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Eclectic Performing Arts, as well as Mrs. Drudge in The Real Inspector Hound at Charter Arts. Marley is so thankful for the health of her friends and family during this time and can’t wait to create some art with NETC!

Emma Schwartz is a classically trained actress and director from London, UK. Theatre credits include: Nora in A Doll’s House, Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, Viola in Twelfth Night, Pam in Saved (Edward Bond), Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, working with Stanley Dawson (RSC). TV and film credits include: Coronation Street, and Emmerdale for Yorkshire TV and ITV, England. Directing credits include: Oedipus Tyrannus, Restless Heart, at the Southside Theater, London, Defining Dawn for Radio Arts FM. Emma founded Momenti Productions in 2010, and directed short films Limbo and Z-Mumba in NY and NJ, and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Emma is a drummer in the all-female band, Batala NY.

Josè De La Rua is a mystery, phenomenon, and huge problem. For a while she was an actor in south Florida and performed with New City Players in Art as Yvan, Primal Forces in Andy and The Orphans as Bobby, and Outrè in 1984 as Parsons. They now reside in Chicago where they dress in drag as Heauxí (Hoe-ee) and performs for dollars and adoration. She’d like to thank not only god, but satan.

Renae Raymond is an actress based in the tri-state area, and this is her second time working with No Exit Theatre Collective. She is ecstatic to be cast in this reading of The Importance of Being Earnest as Cecily Cardew! Most recently, Renae had the pleasure of playing Stephano in a reading of The Tempest with Atlantic City Theatre Company. Some of her favorite credits include The Threepenny Opera (Polly Peachum), The Laramie Project (Dr. Cantway), and Anatomy of Gray (Rebekah Muldoon) at RVCC. She just graduated from Drew University, where she received her BA in Theatre Arts. Renae is incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to bring wonderful pieces of theatre to life during these uncertain times, and allowing the audience to immerse themselves into a new world!

Hannah Kulp is a Texas-born actor and recent graduate of NYU and Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and is delighted to be making her No Exit debut in The Importance of Being Earnest. Past theater credits include: Olivia in Twelfth Night (dir. Kelly O’Donnell), Catherine Watts in Censored on Final Approach (dir. John Gould Rubin), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at Stella Adler, and Ezra in Daylight, A Political “Dark” Comedy with Best Intentions Theater Company. Hannah is grateful for the opportunity to work on such a delightful play in such crazy times!

Ryan Mahannah is an Actor/Director/Educator from South Florida. Currently, Ryan is the Theatre Program Coordinator at State Fair Community College! Most recently Mahannah has been seen on stage in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he was fortunate to work with Tony Award Winning actress, Faith Prince as a Guest Director in a production of THE TEMPEST in which Mahannah played Trinculo. Other favorite roles include Peer Gynt in PEER GYNT, Jacques and Touchstone in AS YOU LIKE IT and Medvedenko in THE SEAGULL. Mahannah holds his MFA in Theatre Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi.