COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JUNE 14, 2017
Q
11A
Q&A with the cast of
'The Importance of Being Earnest'
The e Cottage Theate
Theater's newest show, "The Im-
portance of Being Earnest" kicked-off on June 9
and will run until June 25. The cast and crew have
taken on the task of telling one of Oscar Wilde's
most famous works full of comedy and the classic
case of fumbled identity. Director Alan Beck, cos-
tume designer Rhonda Turnquist and actor Kory
Weimer took time off the stage to answer ques-
tions about the show and their involvement.
"The Importance of Being Earnest" is show-
ing at the Cottage Theatre until June 25. Tickets
cost $25 Adult / $15 Youth (6-18 yrs) and curtain
times are as follows: Thursday, Friday, Saturday
urday
at 8:00 p.m. Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Q: Talk a bit about the story of "Earnest."
Beck: It’s a classic farce with some of the wit-
tiest dialogue I’ve ever come across in theatre.
It’s about a young man, Jack, who was adopted
and given a name but he really doesn’t know who
his parents are or how he got into this world and
he’s fallen in love but she’ll only marry him if
his name is Earnest. In the end,
we fi nd out he has always been
named Earnest. So he realizes
the importance of being Earnest.
Weimer: It starts off with ba-
Our beautiful community is designed sically a classic mistaken identi-
for those who need assistance or have
ty story. It’s a diffi cult show to
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explain but the whole premise
assured that you or your loved one
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is my character pretending he’s
compassionate personal attention from
this character called Earnest and
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had a desire to fall in love with a
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Q: How did you get involved
in the production?
Beck: I submitted a request
to direct and design this play to
the committee last year and they
made it part of the season.
Turnquist: Alan asked me to
costume it last year when the
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Beck: Comedy is tough. Tragedy is easy. The
biggest challenge is just to command the lan-
guage, the English accents and keep the pace pret-
ty quick with the banter and dialogue.
Turnquist: The time. Each dress took about
three days and we didn’t have any suits or pants
or vests from that era so all the men's looks were
totally built. We used one tuxedo we had. Every-
thing else in this play was made new for this play.
Weimer: Whenever you do a show with an ac-
cent, any kind of accent, you have to know that
it’s going to take the audience a little bit of time
to warm up to that. You have to make sure you’re
speaking clearly. I’ve seen productions that can
drag out the language and make it slow paced and
it makes it diffi cult to watch versus how we’ve
done it where we keep the fl ow of the words and
speed of the show quicker than how it’s usually
done and it keeps the audience engaged.
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plays were picked and that’s when I started doing
the research in the era, the 1890s, long before it
was even cast.
Weimer: I worked with Alan on a number of
other shows. One of my fi rst shows was Charlie’s
Aunt. I absolutely adored working with him, He
was just full of knowledge so when he said he was
doing this show I was really excited to audition
because it’s a classic piece of theatre that never
goes out of style.
Q:What is your favorite part of (working on)
this play?
Turnquist: The costumes. My favorite part is
doing historically accurate costumes and making
the people feel that they’re really there.
Beck: The fabulous cast. There are scenes from
every one of them that make me laugh every night.
If I had to choose, I’d guess my favorite scene is
when Ms. Prism who lost Jack when he was an
infant by placing him in a handbag and leaving
him at a station in London, and Jack realizes he’s
had this handbag all of his life in the attic, and he
brings it to her and she recognizes it as the bag she
left the infant in.
Weimer: The really quick wit exchanges be-
tween Josh and I. Wilde has such a fantastic way
with words and somehow, they haven’t gone out
of style. So many shows from that era can be so
out of touch with a modern audience but some
how this show transcends time. The jokes are still
funny.
Q: What are the challenges to putting on a
show like this?
Q: Why should people come see "Earnest?"
Weimer: It’s a fantastic piece of theatre. I’ve
been performing for 29 years but it’s always im-
portant to support the arts and artists around you.
Get out there and support the community and
show love to the people who are doing what they
love.
Beck:This is probably the best cast I have
worked with at the Cottage Theatre.
*Photos provided by
photographer Matt Emrich.
Cottage
Theatre