Provincetown Theater Project's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Begins Tonight

The Provincetown Theater Community Project presents THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde, running tonight, May 18, through June 5, 2016.

It is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has its philosophy...that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality. - Oscar Wilde on The Importance of Being Earnest

When Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest debuted in 1895, it was considered an exuberant rebellion to the predictable "society comedies" of the Victorian age. The play's rapid-fire wit quickly paces a comedy involving numerous plot devices such as "shameful" secrets and mistaken identities. Before reaching its sensational climax, the play explores ideas about love, marriage, sexuality and class relations. Wilde's writing is dense with double entendre and the show's director plans to take all of the comedy's themes to another level.

The production will be directed by Obie Award winner David Drake, who specifically chose this piece to present to PTCP audiences. According to Drake, "Wilde's wit has always dazzled me. But what motivated me to mount 'Earnest' for The Provincetown Theater at this particular time in history is the way his humor and insight intertwines with the plot's core -- romantic love versus the institution of marriage. With marriage equality now the law of the land in the U.S., as well as the skyrocketing dialogue on gender identification that we're in - by swapping all the actors' traditional genders in the roles (which has often been done with the role of Lady Bracknell) - I wanted to take a page from the play's cross-gender casting history, and completely expand it to make Wilde's homage to the romantic comedy as relevant to today's audiences as it was to the Victorian audiences of over one-hundred years ago. And what better place to do that but in Provincetown!"

The stellar cast is led by Anne Stott as Jack/Earnest (Anne is a singer/composer/recording artist last seen starring in David Drake's productions of Poor Superman at The Art House and Our Town at The Provincetown Theater) along with Alexandra Foucard as Algernon (Alexandra played Fantine in Les Miserables on Broadway and co-starred with Maurice Hines in the national tour of Guys & Dolls). Their beloveds (Gwendolyn and Cecily) will be played by: the "Cupcake Man" Scott Cunningham (The Elephant Man, W.H.A.T. and Poor Superman, The Art House); and Michael Burke (The Normal Heart, Provincetown Theater). Bragan Thomas appears as Miss Prism (he is currently in Provincetown Theater's Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights and prior to that he played the title role in The Dresser). Sallie Tighe (of The Gift, The Divine Sister and The Odd Couple at the Provincetown Theater) portrays Reverend Chasuble. Alison Hyder (also seen in The Dresser and Dr. Faustus) and Connie Tavanis (Provincetown Theater's The Odd Couple and Our Town) complete the cast as the dutiful butlers Lane and Merriman, respectively. Tony Jackman will return to the stage as Wilde's greatest creation, Lady Bracknell, following many years of directing popular Provincetown Theater productions such as Hair, Bat Boy, Edward II, Oliver, and this season's The Dresser.

Obie Award winner David Drake (The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me) returns to the Provincetown Theater, having directed numerous acclaimed productions. They include: Thornton Wilder's Our Town, David Parr'sSlap & Tickle, Charles Busch's The Divine Sister, Steven Lyons's The Gift, and the world premiere of Myra Slotnick's The Weight of Water, which transferred to a sold-out run Off-Broadway. David has twice been a Directing Fellow at the Sundance Theater Lab, and has staged such Off-Broadway hits as The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac (New York Times and New Yorker Critic's Pick), the world premiere of Taylor Mac's Obie Award-winning The Lily's Revenge, and most recently as writer and director of Migguel Anggelo's Another Son of Venezuela (NY Magazine Critic's Pick) at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater in NYC.

Following are curtain times for THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST: May 18 to 21 at 7:30 pm and May 22 at 2 pm; May 26 to 28 at 7:30 pm and May 29 at 2 pm; June 2 to 4 at 7:30 pm and June 5 at 2 pm. All performances take place in The Provincetown Theater located at 238 Bradford Street, Provincetown, MA. Tickets are available at the theater's website: www.provincetowntheater.org or by calling the box office at508-487-7487.