University Theatre Winter 2025 Auditions

The Importance of Being Earnest

Open auditions for the University Theatre Winter 2025 production of The Importance of Being Earnest will be Jan. 12 and 13 at 6 p.m. in the Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center 106. If necessary, a callback round will be held on Jan. 14 at 6 p.m.

John Worthing is leading a double life. In his posh London flat, he’s known as the dashing and playful Earnest, but in his country estate he’s simply the responsible and respectable Jack. When his charming and trouble-making best friend Algernon discovers John’s schemes, he takes on his own alternate identity and poses as Jack’s brother leading to a complex series of misunderstandings and farcical situations. Oscar Wilde’s enduring 1985 comedy playfully skewers the mannered conventions of social class, marriage, gender, and religion with charm and wit.

Rehearsals will begin Jan. 27 and run 6-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. Tech is Saturday, March 1 at 10 a.m. and tech/dress rehearsals start Sunday, March 2 at noon. Tech continues March 3-5 at 6 p.m. Performances run March 6-8 and March 14-15 at 7:30 p.m. and March 16 at 2 p.m. There is a strike immediately following the closing performance and a pick-up rehearsal March 13. All cast members must be available for all of tech week, performances, and a strike.

Auditions are open to all students, staff, faculty, and community members!

Those auditioning should read the script beforehand and be prepared to perform cold readings. The script is available to read online HERE.

Fill out the online AUDITION FORM HERE before the audition.

AVAILABLE ROLES:

John Worthing – A mostly responsible young man who has adopted the persona of “Ernest” in the city. He is actively wooing Gwendolyn.

Algernon Moncrieff – A charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest.

Gwendolen Fairfax - A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious.

Cecily Cardew – 18 years old, ward of Jack Worthing, has fallen in love with Jack’s brother Ernest in her imagination and invents an elaborate romance and courtship between them.

Lady Bracknell - Algernon’s snobbish, mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen’s mother.

Miss Prism - Cecily’s governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of clichés. Puritan though she is, Miss Prism’s severe pronouncements have a way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter.

Rev. Chasuble - The rector on Jack’s estate.

Lane and Merriman- Algernon’s manservant / Butler on Jack’s estate.

NOTE ON INTIMACY: Several roles will require a moderate level of on-stage romantic contact such as hand-holding, embracing, hugging, and kissing on the hands, face, or mouth.

For questions, please contact the director Craig Willis at craig@octheatre.org