| The Importance of Representation in new EARNEST production | Oct 19-28 UNDER ST. Marks | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 08:57 am EDT 10/13/23 | |
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| THE IMPORTANCE OF REIMAGINING AN EARNEST FOR EVERYONE Director Janani Sreenivasan stages Wilde's comedy as a love letter to the humanity found in humor The Importance of Being Earnest October 19-28 at Under St. Marks Theater, NYC New York, NY: For many audiences and critics alike, The Importance of Being Earnest stands today as "the most perfect comedy in the English language." (London Telegraph) Counting herself among the play's biggest fans is comedy writer, actress and director Janani Sreenivasan, who is bringing her interpretation of Oscar Wilde's madcap farce to the intimate Under St. Marks basement black box theater, 94 St. Marks Place, NYC, from October 19-28. For tickets and more information, visit https://linktr.ee/earnest23 East Village-based actress, writer, and director Janani Sreenivasan loves to tell stories, funny ones especially. The South Asian artist comes from a long background of comedy writing, with bylines in Reductress, McSweeney's, and The New Yorker as well as seeing her dark comedies screened at the L.A. Comedy Festival and the NYC-based Iron Mule Short Film Festival. She recently directed new short comedies for NYC's Chain Theatre and Rule of 7x7. So one might be surprised to find that when she decided to produce her very first Off-Off-Broadway show, she chose a script that was slightly older than her usual new plays - 128 years older in fact. Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest has always delighted Sreenivasan. She likens the rapid-fire comedy built upon mistaken identities and dazzling wordplay to "ice cream", saying "Every page of Oscar Wilde is just a joyride from start to finish — so absurd, so hilarious, so freeing for both performers and the director...delight on a silver platter. And god knows we need some absolute delight, some reminder of what pure, untarnished happiness feels like, in our systems right now." The Importance of Being Earnest was one of the first plays that Sreenivasan ever saw performed live. "I was a 90s Indian tween, rocking neon leggings and finding my kindred spirit in Steve Urkel," she explains, "but even at that age, and as far removed from Victorian England as you could get, the play made such an impact on me." Such an impact that it has become recommended reading for anyone she meets, "I don't ever want people to miss out on experiencing this play -- either as audience members or as performers. It's like ice cream— or whatever treat you can't resist eating until it's gone. Everyone should get a chance to devour it." Dubbed a "trivial comedy for serious people", the plot of Earnest centers around mistaken identities, ridiculous situations, and the skewering of the strict Victorian morals of the day. Carefree bachelors, Jack Worthing (Xander Jackson) and Algernon Moncrieff (Zachary Sherry), each have a carefully hidden double life, curated to romance young ladies of means. Jack woos Gwendolen Fairfax (Sunita Deshpande) under the guise of "Ernest" while Algernon also poses as the same "Ernest" to win the heart of Jack's ward, Cecily Cardew (Joëlle Dong). When all four arrive at Jack's country home on the same weekend, all pandemonium breaks loose. Sreenivasan is thrilled with the cast she has assembled for this production, "We have created a Victorian drawing room, but set in 2023," adding with a laugh, "populated by several people that would have been thrown out of that drawing room in 1895, including myself." She goes on: "Call us period-ish-ish; we're not aiming to render the past but to suggest it, spoof it, send it up, and in doing so to acknowledge the incredible distance that we've come culturally to be able to perform this play together in 2023. For this reason, it was incredibly important for me to create a cast that reflects the New York that is all around us every day. And it's yet another wonder of the play that, 128 years later, it is so effortlessly inclusive — this story makes room for absolutely everyone willing to embrace its silliness. Anybody, of any background and identity, can play these dizzy characters without missing a beat. And I couldn't be more pleased with how each and every cast member, no matter their story, is bringing their own experiences to these roles." Director and Producer Janani Sreenivasan (she/her) is a writer, director, actor, composer, and musician whose parents emigrated from South India to the US in 1976 and settled in Corvallis, Oregon, where Janani was born and raised. A graduate of Princeton University with a degree in history and received her MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. She co-founded the improv band The Vigilante with Rebecca Vigil (the Off-Broadway veteran of Your Love, Our Musical) and Janani's short play Get Leo, depicting her desire for Leonardo DiCaprio to portray her onstage, was produced and published by the Bechdel Group. Sreenivasan has written personal, political, and politically personal humor for The New Yorker, The Toast, Reductress, Political Subversities, Brown Town, and Serious Eats. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish poet, novelist, and playwright. During the first run of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1895, Wilde was tried and convicted of "acts of gross indecency with other male persons." As his reputation collapsed, his name was removed from the show's playbills and the play closed early. A two-year imprisonment weakened his health and led to his eventual death at the age of 46 in Paris. The Importance of Being Earnest has since been adapted for film, TV, opera, radio, and libretto in several languages. "It takes a great deal of courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it." (Oscar Wilde) UNDER St. Marks has been an experimental theater space since the 1970's. Located on St. Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A, this basement theater is popular with a wide variety of theater artists. "The city's cultural pulse is driven by vibrant little holes like Under St. Marks…" (The Gothamist) THE CAST Sunita Deshpande as Gwendolen Fairfax Sunita Deshpande of Daredevil (Marvel), Moonshot (HBO), Gravid Water (Upright Citizens Brigade) and Senseless (Theatre Row) is an improv actor originally from Tarpon Springs, FL. Her first short play, A Sari for Pallavi, was a finalist at the Samuel French OOB Festival and was made into an award-winning film. Her one-act play The Princess of Tea, a dark comedy set in India during the British Raj, was featured in the Chain Theatre's 2023 Winter One-Act Festival with several of the Earnest cast and crew also participating. She also performs standup and is currently working on her first full-length play, Worshiping the Son. Joëlle Dong as Cecily Cardew Joëlle Dong is a New York-based photographer and filmmaker making her NY stage debut with Earnest. A recent graduate of Brown University, she spent the past few years making films, designing interiors, and building a photography business in London, Providence, Hong Kong, and California. Gavrie Elliott as Canon Chasuble Gavrie Elliott is an actor, writer, and musician originally from Chappaqua, NY. Gavrie is a student at New York University Tisch School of the Arts studying experimental theater. Rob Hunt (Lane/Merriman) Rob Hunt lives in the NYC Metropolitan area and has been acting since he was in his twenties. In addition to his acting work, he has written four children's books. Xander Jackson (Jack Worthing) Xander Jackson is a New York native and has performed in over 30 theatrical performances and short film productions. He trains with the Barrow Group, specifically under Seth Barrish, Lee Brock, and Shannon Patterson. Most recently he appeared as Hal in David Auburn's Proof and Brucie in Lynn Nottage's Sweat. He is currently in the process of writing a stage play, in addition to several on-camera shorts. Zachary Sherry (Algernon Moncrieff) Zachary Sherry is an actor and writer, originally from Pompano Beach, FL. His first play, True Love, was performed at Tribeca Performing Arts Center and NYSummerfest Theatre Festival. Recent screen credits include Off Campus, Evil Lives Here, and We've Been Trying to Reach You About Your Car's Extended Warranty. His recent stage credits include Commedia del Arte at the Sterling Renaissance Festival, as well as Down the FOX Hole and The Princess of Tea at Chain Theatre One-Act Festival. Belle Sinclair as Miss Prism Belle Sinclair is an actress and writer born and raised in Richmond, Virginia and currently based in NY. Recent TV and film credits include Unsolved Mysteries, Invisible Shark, Winds of Silence and My Secret Husband. Recently she completed her first short, Keepsake and is in working on her first screenplay, The Educated Debutante in collaboration with her filmmaker brother Farrar Pace. An honors graduate of the University of Virginia, she trains with Stella Adler Studio of Acting, the Barrow Group, and the Acting Studio. René Zara as Lady Bracknell René Zara is a lifelong stage actor and musician. She has appeared in productions of Bye, Bye, Birdie (Rose), Noises Off (Poppy/Belinda), Peter Pan (Wendy), Nunsense! (Sister Mary Leo), and Ruthless! The Musical (Judy/Ginger). René is also a vocalist, film score composer and songwriter. Her choral arrangement of Imogen Heap's hit "Hide and Seek" is featured in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Her on-screen credits include the award-winning short Mrs. Osbourne which she also produced, wrote, and scored, Reel Actresses of Hollywood East (Instagram), and also various streaming projects. René is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and appears in an upcoming feature film directed by critically-acclaimed filmmakers The Kinnane Brothers due out in 2024. |
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| Link | https://linktr.ee/earnest23 |
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