Westport Country Playhouse To Present Sunday Symposium On THE IMPORTANCE OF OSCAR WILDE
Event follows the November 2 performance and will feature guest speaker John Waters and moderated by Artistic Director Mark Shanahan.
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 28, 2025
Westport Country Playhouse will present a Sunday Symposium on “The Importance of Oscar Wilde” on Sunday, November 2, following the 3 p.m. performance of Wilde’s classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest.
The post-show discussion will feature guest John Waters, professor at New York University, in conversation with Mark Shanahan, Westport Country Playhouse’s artistic director. The program is free and open to the public and will conclude with an audience Q&A.
“As we open our wonderful production of The Importance of Being Earnest, I’m excited to invite John Waters to speak with our audience about the legacy of Oscar Wilde and the ways in which his masterwork speaks to us today,” said Shanahan.
Waters has taught at Wake Forest University, the University of Notre Dame, and Louisiana State University before joining the English Department and Irish Studies Program at New York University, where he founded the interdisciplinary MA in Irish and Irish-American Studies. He currently teaches courses in Irish literature, modernism, poetry, and drama, as well as courses on exile and migration.
The Importance of Being Earnest runs October 28–November 15 at Westport Country Playhouse. Directed by Melissa Rain Anderson, the cast includes Kristen Hahn (Cecily Cardew), Anthony Michael Martinez (Algernon Moncrieff), Jan Neuberger (Miss Prism), Christine Pedi (Lady Bracknell), Michael Raver (Jack Worthing, J.P.), Triney Sandoval (Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.), Mark Silence (Merriman, Lane), and Katy Tang (Gwendolyn Fairfax).
The Sunday Symposium Series is supported in part by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation. The Importance of Being Earnest Production Sponsors are Athena and Daniel Adamson and Sunny and Jim Neff. Corporate Production Sponsor is Cohen and Wolf, P.C.; Corporate Production Patron is RBC Wealth Management; and Corporate Production Supporter is 3030 Park as Senior Living Hospitality Group. The 2025 Opening Night Post-Show Reception Sponsor is RDM Financial Group at Hightower. The 2025 Together at the Table Sponsors are Paige and Jodi Couture, and the 2025 Programming and Season Sponsor is Barbara Streicker. Media sponsors include Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio.
For full details on The Importance of Being Earnest, visit westportplayhouse.org/show/the-importance-of-being-earnest. Tickets and information are available at westportplayhouse.org or by calling (203) 227-4177 / 1-888-927-7529. Westport Country Playhouse is located at 25 Powers Court, Westport, CT.
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