Busch Stars In L.A. Theatre Works' THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST 6/17-21

Actor, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director and drag legend Charles Busch will take on the role of the irrepressible Lady Bracknell in the L.A. Theatre Works recording of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Michael Hackett directs five performances at the Skirball Cultural Center June 17-21 that will be recorded for broadcast on LATW's nationally syndicated radio theater series, which broadcasts locally on 89.3 KPCC and can be streamed on demand at www.latw.org.

Subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People," The Importance of Being Earnest is Irish playwright Oscar Wilde's last and perhaps best-known play - a comedic send up of Victorian courtship and manners in which love conquers all - as long as one is truly earnest.

Jack and Algernon are best friends, who, in order to impress their beloveds, pretend that their names are "Ernest," a name that both ladies believe confers magical qualities on the possessor. The two young men lead busy double lives in the highest of style: creating false identities, avoiding family, visiting imaginary invalids and (equally imaginary) wayward brothers. But now their carefully constructed "alternate universe" is crumbling at The Edges, and they will have to decide whether being "Ernest" or "earnest" will get them what they want.

The first staging of The Importance of Being Earnest took place at the ST. James Theatre in London, in February, 1895. It was an immediate popular success, and the critics wrote glowing reviews. In describing the comedy to a reviewer with the ST. James Gazette, Wilde commented: "It is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has a philosophy: That we should treat all the trivial things of life very seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality."

Charles Busch is the author and star of such plays as The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, which ran five years and is one of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history. His play The Tale of the Allergist's Wife ran for 777 performances on Broadway, won Mr. Busch the Outer Circle Critics John Gassner Award, and received a Tony nomination for Best Play; and he directed when it was recorded by L.A. Theatre Works in May, 2007. He wrote and starred in the film versions of his plays, Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2003, Mr. Busch received a special Drama Desk Award for career achievement as both performer and playwright. Mr. Busch made his directorial debut with the film A Very Serious Person, which premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won an honorable mention. He is also the subject of the documentary film The Lady in Question is Charles Busch. His latest play The Third Story was produced in 2009 by MCC at the Lortel Theatre.

For three decades, L.A. Theatre Works has been the leading radio theater company in the United States, committed to using innovative technologies to preserve and promote significant works of dramatic literature and bringing live theater into the homes of millions. LATW's radio theater series airs locally in Southern California every Saturday from 10pm to midnight on KPCC 89.3 FM, and can also be streamed on demand at www.latw.org. The series can also be heard on the following stations (check local listings for broadcast times): 89.7 WGBH in Boston; 91.5 FM WBEZ in Chicago; 94.9 KUOW in Seattle; 93.5 FM KRTS "Marfa Public Radio" in Texas; 90.5 FM KUT in Austin; 88.9 FM KUNM in Albuquerque; 91.5 FM, Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan; 90.1 FM KKFI in Kansas City, MO; 90.7 FM KVNO in Omaha; 94.1 KPFA in Northern California; 91.1 FM KRCB in Sonoma County; and 89.1 KUOR in Redlands.

Performances of The Importance of Being Earnest take place on Wednesday, June 17 at 8 pm; Thursday, June 18 at 8 pm; Friday, June 19 at 8 pm; Saturday, June 20 at 2:30 pm;and Sunday, June 21 at 4 pm. Tickets range from $20.00 to $48.00. L.A. Theatre Works at the Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains (exit Skirball Center Drive). For tickets and information, call the L.A. Theatre Works box office at (310) 827-0889 or go to www.latw.org.